Post by klep on Oct 16, 2017 6:53:22 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/16: The Straight Story
DEPARTURES WEEK!
David Lynch has called The Straight Story his most experimental film. If it were any other director you'd be wondering why he'd think that. After all, it's a straightforward film, based on the true story of a man who traveled across Iowa on a riding mower to reconcile with his brother, with scenes filmed in chronological order.
But David Lynch doesn't normally make films that way. If there's one thing that characterizes most of Lynch's work, it's a surreal dream logic - a sense of possibility bounded only by imagination and the twisted workings of our subconscious. Many of his most memorable scenes are ones that don't - at least at first - seem to fit in with a narrative. He's a fan of being oblique, mysterious, ambiguous.
So the idea that Lynch would find a shooting a straightforward narrative in sequential order with little room for his favored surrealist digressions difficult makes a lot of sense. But that doesn't mean it's any less good, or that it doesn't bear Lynch's stamp. The opening shot is a phenomenally precise crane shot that starts with an image emblematic of Lynch - an overweight woman sunbathing with eye goggles and a reflector in the corner of the frame - before slowly moving in slowly to hear the fall that reveals to Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) that his days are numbered. The subsequent film is full of little Lynchian touches like that, with perhaps the most obvious being Alvin's encounter with a woman who keeps hitting deer with her car.
But for the most part The Straight Story is a melancholy and sweet tale told in a straightforward fashion. Alvin shows us wisdom many times in his journey, but it's clear that it's always wisdom hard won. We never know what it is that caused the rift between him and his brother, but it's not important. What Alvin has remembered this late in life is that no conflict is so petty to lose sight of your family.
Alvin isn't a perfect man. He's a good man, but he has his demons. He spent a while in the bottle, he fought in the war, and he's too stubborn for his own good. But his fundamental decency is what always shows through, and it's a decency that's rewarded by the people he encounters on the way. He's played by Richard Farnsworth in an Oscar-nominated performance for the ages. Farnsworth was dying of prostate cancer during filming, and was not only in pain but had paralysis in his legs - the difficulty Alvin has moving in the film is Farnsworth's. But despite his pain Farnsworth gives us a character bent, but not broken. Weakened, but still strong. Hurt, but not hurtful. Sad, but not humorless. It's a character of depth and sincerity, and it was a beautiful final gift to the world.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/16: Obvious Child
FAST FEATURES WEEK!
Our next Movie of the Week is Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child, a film she made with the goal of destigmatizing getting an abortion starring the delightful Jenny Slate. Obvious Child is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 10/17: Blade Runner
The podcast crew looks at both ends of the decades-spanning Blade Runner saga next week, and on Wednesday we'll have a thread to talk about the Ridley Scott original. Blade Runner is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members. I will be watching The Final Cut, myself.
DEPARTURES WEEK!
David Lynch has called The Straight Story his most experimental film. If it were any other director you'd be wondering why he'd think that. After all, it's a straightforward film, based on the true story of a man who traveled across Iowa on a riding mower to reconcile with his brother, with scenes filmed in chronological order.
But David Lynch doesn't normally make films that way. If there's one thing that characterizes most of Lynch's work, it's a surreal dream logic - a sense of possibility bounded only by imagination and the twisted workings of our subconscious. Many of his most memorable scenes are ones that don't - at least at first - seem to fit in with a narrative. He's a fan of being oblique, mysterious, ambiguous.
So the idea that Lynch would find a shooting a straightforward narrative in sequential order with little room for his favored surrealist digressions difficult makes a lot of sense. But that doesn't mean it's any less good, or that it doesn't bear Lynch's stamp. The opening shot is a phenomenally precise crane shot that starts with an image emblematic of Lynch - an overweight woman sunbathing with eye goggles and a reflector in the corner of the frame - before slowly moving in slowly to hear the fall that reveals to Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) that his days are numbered. The subsequent film is full of little Lynchian touches like that, with perhaps the most obvious being Alvin's encounter with a woman who keeps hitting deer with her car.
But for the most part The Straight Story is a melancholy and sweet tale told in a straightforward fashion. Alvin shows us wisdom many times in his journey, but it's clear that it's always wisdom hard won. We never know what it is that caused the rift between him and his brother, but it's not important. What Alvin has remembered this late in life is that no conflict is so petty to lose sight of your family.
Alvin isn't a perfect man. He's a good man, but he has his demons. He spent a while in the bottle, he fought in the war, and he's too stubborn for his own good. But his fundamental decency is what always shows through, and it's a decency that's rewarded by the people he encounters on the way. He's played by Richard Farnsworth in an Oscar-nominated performance for the ages. Farnsworth was dying of prostate cancer during filming, and was not only in pain but had paralysis in his legs - the difficulty Alvin has moving in the film is Farnsworth's. But despite his pain Farnsworth gives us a character bent, but not broken. Weakened, but still strong. Hurt, but not hurtful. Sad, but not humorless. It's a character of depth and sincerity, and it was a beautiful final gift to the world.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/16: Obvious Child
FAST FEATURES WEEK!
Our next Movie of the Week is Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child, a film she made with the goal of destigmatizing getting an abortion starring the delightful Jenny Slate. Obvious Child is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 10/17: Blade Runner
The podcast crew looks at both ends of the decades-spanning Blade Runner saga next week, and on Wednesday we'll have a thread to talk about the Ridley Scott original. Blade Runner is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members. I will be watching The Final Cut, myself.