directed by david lynch . screenplay by john roach and mary sweeney . starring richard farnsworth , sissy spacek , james cada . running time : 106 minutes . rated pg ( mfcb ) . reviewed on april 24th , 2000 . " the straight story " tells a tale that would seem too far-fetched to be believed -- if it hadn't actually happened . based on true events from the summer of 1994 , director david lynch's newest film is an unusual choice of project for the man behind sometimes baffling fare like " twin peaks " and " lost highway " . but " the straight story " is pleasant and engrossing , and is also a rare motion picture that dares not only to feature a largely elderly cast , but also to treat them with considerable respect . alvin straight ( richard farnsworth ) is 73 years old , a world war ii veteran who has seen better days . his hips are giving out on him and his emphysema is getting worse . he lives with his daughter rose ( sissy spacek ) , who is mildly retarded but bright enough in her own way . one stormy night , alvin learns from a relative that his brother lyle has suffered a stroke . alvin and lyle were once as close as brothers could be , but they had a falling out ten years earlier and haven't spoken since . desperately aware of both lyle's mortality and his own , alvin decides he has to make the journey from his home in laurens , iowa to lyle's place in mount zion , wisconsin . neither alvin nor rose have a driver's license , and alvin is too proud to ask anyone else for help . so alvin decides to hitch a trailer up to his battered old riding lawnmower and set out for wisconsin , travelling no more than five or ten miles a day . his lawnmower soon breaks down , but alvin is not swayed : he trades it in and uses the last of his money to buy a 1966 john deere mower , then starts the journey all over again . alvin's slow voyage from iowa to wisconsin provides the framework around which the bulk of the movie is built . as is often the case in these sorts of films , the destination here is not nearly as important as what happens en route . ( indeed , the ending of " the straight story " is a beautifully underplayed scene , a real lesson in minimality that demonstrates lynch's trust in his audience . ) " the straight story " is " the odyssey " writ small , with alvin trundling from episode to episode like a wrinkly old odysseus . none of these little stories are particularly fascinating , but put together they form a touching mosaic . it is through these chance encounters that alvin's character is most fully illuminated and , moreover , that we are afforded a glimpse of the effect his passage has on others . some of these meetings are funny . alvin witnesses a collision between a car and a deer , and learns that the driver ( barbara e robertson ) has killed more than a dozen of the creatures along that stretch of highway in the past six weeks . the problem is that she has to drive that route , back and forth every day , to get to work . beyond quitting her job or moving , she simply has no other choice . " and i love deer ! " she wails . other meetings are more serious . alvin is nearly killed when he loses his brakes going down a steep hill . shaken up and out of money until his next welfare cheque comes in , he is taken in by danny and darla riordan ( james cada and sally wingert ) . the riordans' friend verlyn heller ( wiley harker ) is a wwii veteran like alvin , and one day at the local tavern the two share stories of the horrors of war . this is a beautifully acted sequence and again , lynch shows faith in his viewers by leaving it static and quiet so that the audience can conjure in their own minds the scenes that alvin and verlyn relate . as alvin , farnsworth does a very good job in an academy award-nominated performance . he gives the character considerable depth ; his delivery in sequences like the aforementioned tavern scene are tinged with a lifetime of emotions . the only real drawback to the role -- and the same could be said of " the straight story " as a whole -- is that alvin comes across as just a little too sweet , too coy . although the very fact that he chose to endure the six-week journey is indicative of alvin's character , i found it difficult to believe that he could really be so cherubic ( and indeed , reports suggest that the real alvin straight , who died in 1996 , was not quite as lovable as the movie implies ) . i don't think viewer sympathy would have been lost by giving alvin a bit more of an edge , and i think it would have made him generally better-rounded . none of the other actors have substantial screen time , but there is not a poor performance in the entire movie . lynch is successful in coaxing just the right note out of all his cast , be it dramatic or comedic . like stanley kubrick in " 2001 : a space odyssey " , lynch successfully conveys the lethargic pace of alvin's trip . there are long periods consisting of nothing but shots of iowa farmland , for instance , and more than once the camera pans up from alvin to the blue summer sky in a traditional passage-of-time shot , only to pan down again to show him just a few yards further along . this may induce boredom in some viewers , but for the most part i felt lynch handled such scenes judiciously . they go on long enough to achieve their intended effect , but not so long that i began glancing at my wristwatch . the fact that these sequences are accompanied by gorgeous fiddle music composed by lynch's frequent collaborator angelo badalamenti doesn't hurt , either . quiet , unassuming , gentle , endearing , " the straight story " is a delightful film . here is a testimony not just to the principle that truth is stranger than fiction , and not just to one man's character and determination , but also to the innumerable little stories that are out there , just down the road , waiting to be discovered . copyright © 2000 shannon patrick sullivan . archived at the popcorn gallery , <a href= " http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/thestraightstory . html " >http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/thestraightstory . html</a> -- _______________________________________________________________________ / shannon patrick sullivan | " we are all in the gutter , but some of us \ | <a href= " mailto : shannon@morgan . ucs . mun . ca " >shannon@morgan . ucs . mun . ca</a> | are looking at the stars . 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