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The Straight Story

1999

David Lynch

Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton, Everett McGill ...

7.8

43,460

Drama A portrait of one man's real journey across America's Heartland. Filmed along the 260-mile route that the actual Alvin Straight traversed in 1994 from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, 'The Straight Story' chronicles Alvin's patient odyssey and those he meets along the way. When not rolling along at five miles an hour aboard his '66 John Deere, Alvin encounters a number of strangers, from a teenage runaway to a fellow World War II ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Desson Thomson The Washington Post	"'The Straight Story' cuts a path directly to the heart (...) Farnsworth gives the performance of his life"
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"The faces in this movie are among its treasures (...) The last notes are also just right (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"
		William Thomas Empire	"'The Straight Story', perfectly titled on several levels, is an exercise in strange sweetness that wouldn’t have shamed John Ford at his most elegiac (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Philip French The Guardian	"Marvellous (...) A beautiful-looking movie (...) A spiritual pilgrimage that makes us think about family life, community and preparing ourselves to face death."
		Emanuel Levy Variety	"[A] quiet, emotionally effective family tale (...) [Farnsworth] dominates every frame (...) Lynch has made a film in which visual style and thematic concerns are entirely congruent."
		Janet Maslin The New York Times	"Eloquently simple, deeply emotional (...) A religious experience in its own way"
		Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"A highly affecting and suggestive spiritual odyssey (...) The film's reflective rhythms are haunting"
		Scott Tobias AV Club	"[A] sweet, lyrical masterpiece (...) 'The Straight Story' rings with a simple poetry that's bracing and true."
		David Parkinson Radio Times	"[It] slyly dissects middle-American mores with disarming precision (...) It's hard to imagine a gentler film (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Paul Tatara CNN	"If you're in the proper mood, the reverie he's painted for Alvin Straight is a lovely, memorable experience."
		Peter Rainer New York Magazine	"A sweet and ruminative odyssey (...) The performances of Farnsworth and Spacek are strong; the bits of local color add up to a pretty palette."
		Geoff Andrew Time Out	"Lynch gets humanist - and produces a gem (...) It's finally the film's deceptive simplicity and unabashed warmth that make it one of Lynch's most artistically and emotionally satisfying movies."
		Telegraph	"[It boasts] a compelling premise, beautiful cinematography and a central performance of such subtle power that it's impossible not to be awestruck by the time the end credits roll."

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