The Entire Story?
I Don't Think So!

I have just staggered out of The Straight Story, David Lynch's new film, and into daylight, not quite sure what Mac truck (sorry, riding lawnmower) just hit me. I'm not sure where it came from or where it's headed to. This slow-paced drama is about a seventy-three year old man who takes a six-week journey (on the aforementioned riding-lawnmower) to visit his ailing brother and ask forgiveness for his ten-year old sins. You do the math.

The Straight Story certainly puts a twist on the term, "road movie". It's the warmest, cuddliest "road movie"; you'll just want to take it home and kiss it. One wonders if it isn't partly a response to criticisms that Lynch's previous films are guilty of being cryptically self-referential beyond the point of appeal to a larger audience. (Not from this critic - No way, man!) The Straight Story is undoubtably for mass audiences with its "G" rating.

Despite all my ranting, I would still like to rave. I have to admit that I am guilty of enjoying this movie. Why guilty? Because this film is, yes, "heart-warming" which I never trust. I am still a bit suspicious of its attempts to make me love it. The Straight Story, like an imprisioned criminal, has found Jesus, if only in order to be up for early release; if only for one day. It was a bit too wholesome for the man that brought us Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. The only explanation is that David Lynch decided to make a movie his mother could go see.

This is it.

Sauce Tarte