``The Straight Story'' A surrealist's challenges and achievements in worldly subjects

The reason why the cult king took on the challenge of “non-cult works”

An unknown journey to Mount Zion, Wisconsin, where my brother Lyle lives. His only companion on those long journeys is a Deere & Company riding lawn mower. Why did Alvin decide to take this seemingly reckless journey even though he was 73 years old? At first, Alvin's primary goal must have been to reconcile with his brother, but as he interacts with the people he meets along the way, he gradually begins to develop other goals on his journey. The purpose is to take a bird's-eye view of one's own life and reflect on one's own life.

An encounter with a runaway girl, an encounter with young men, and an encounter with a former soldier who survived the war like Alvin. As she continues on her journey to reconcile with her brother, an unexpected encounter occurs.

David Lynch said, ``This is a movie that simply depicts love, forgiveness, and the dynamics of the human heart,'' and these words certainly explain all of the charm of this film. Concentrated. Who would have imagined that such a heartwarming story would be written by the genius David Lynch?

"The Straight Story" (c) 1999 STUDIOCANAL

Why did you decide to create such a straightforward and innocent work? One of the main reasons for this is that Lynch was not involved in writing the script. In the case of films directed by Lynch, he is usually the sole or co-writer of the screenplay, and his name is almost always credited to the screenplay. However, there are two people who are credited with writing the screenplay for "The Straight Story." One of them is Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime producing partner. In other words, David Lynch was invited to work on this film as a "director for hire."

However, it is. David Lynch is a strong writer, so if he doesn't find the story interesting or appealing, he would easily turn down the job. In other words, Alvin's travel story must have had a great appeal to Lynch.

The screenplay exudes honest, earnest, and poetic emotion. Lynch fell in love with it, of course, because of its purity, but also because it was a subject he had never tried before - an extremely experimental subject for Lynch's work. This may be the biggest reason why I was intrigued.

"The Straight Story" (c) 1999 STUDIOCANAL

In stark contrast to the complex story of `` Lost Highway '' (1997), which winds and loops like a Möbius strip, the story that everyone can understand and empathize with was a refreshing subject for Lynch. right. To begin with, the film maker David Lynch is often thought of as an eccentric who is devoted to cult-like fields, but everyone who knows him unanimously calls him ``normal.''

In the words of Stuart Cornfeld, executive producer of `` The Elephant Man '' (1980), Lynch is ``James Stuart from Mars.'' In other words, ``an honest man from another planet different from Earth'' is the true identity of David Lynch. If you think about it that way, you can easily accept the fact that he directed ``The Straight Story.''

This work reveals that David Lynch is not an oddball or an eccentric, but just an "honest man."

Creating images with a documentary touch that shows the actual journey