With selection 213, Team Clint Eastwood is proud to select, in the non-fiction category, The Straight Story (1999).
I think this is the first David Lynch flick to make the cut in this movie draft - glad to pop the cherry. You can interpret the title "The Straight Story" literally, because this is the one film Lynch has done that indeed does play it straight and follow narrative conventions (that said, there are plenty of his trademarks to be found throughout). This is a great movie, IMO, because of two things. The first is the Lynch factor: a director who despite his rather odd and esoteric body of work is a masterful filmmaker, transforming here material that could have been histrionic and sappy in the wrong hands into something genuine and heartfelt - the final scene gets me every time - and told with a visual flair and enough oddball charm that makes it convincingly authentic and often almost dreamlike.
The other half of what makes this film work is the late Richard Farnsworth as the fact-based lead character who drives his riding mower cross-state to visit his estranged (and ailing) brother. Farnsworth delivers a performance that is textured and real, subtle at the right times and conspicuously stubborn at others; the authenticity of his Alvin Straight is harmonious with the world within the film when need be and suitably stoic when things escalate into a more Lynch-esque chaos. Watch his eyes while he sits fireside, quietly ponderous: though we may be convinced his character is mulling over the events of his life, it is obvious Farnsworth, who died a few months after the film's release, is recounting and reconciling his own experience. Indeed, there is some magic in the parallel between an actor reaching the final moments of his mortal existence and a character who is doing the same - Farnsworth does it beautifully, and wrenchingly.
There are some morality tales within the plot that are borderline tacky but fine performances by a strong cast (including Sissy Spacek as Straight's autistic birdhouse-building daughter) and the off-kilter stigma Lynch carries hold it together. Ultimately, the storyline in this film functions as both an allegory for the overall journey of life, and those realizations that may come or become clear as one winds down on that journey; the wisdom Straight dispenses on his final stretch is to a host of characters who exist at various stages of it.
Surprisingly, this is a Disney production (released around the time the studio was marketing gaggable big ticket events like Hercules and Tarzan). It is family-friendly, but because the film possesses such unexpected depth it is something you can watch multiple times and take away something new on each viewing. Great story, great acting, fantastic visuals, teriffic musical score - I recommend this movie to everybody.
Some of the quirky comedy to be found in this gem: