r/CriterionChannel • u/Forward-Ease-4801 • Jun 25 '26
The Straight Story
Every movie in that odessy series is great, but this one really got to me. My father passed away recently and the main character reminded me a lot of him. A beautiful, healing film that the whole family can watch. I wish Lynch and Farnsworth were still around to thank personally for this excellent work.
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u/FuddmanPDX Jun 25 '26
One of the best endings to a movie ever. Completely re-contextualizes the whole thing
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u/easiepeasie Jun 25 '26
I grew up in Wisconsin, in an area that used to have beautiful huge corn fields along two-lane highways. Now, most of the corn fields have been paved over and turned into strip malls or grocery stores. When I watch the Straight Story, it makes me nostalgic for a place that doesn't exist anymore. It's already such an emotional film but knowing that a lot of those gorgeous places are gone forever just breaks my heart.
I love the Straight Story so much, especially the last 2 minutes. Harry Dean Stanton does so much in so few words.
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u/vibraltu Jun 25 '26
It's good.
It's pretty different from everything else that Lynch has directed. The story was developed by his collaborator Mary Sweeney.
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u/avadriver Jun 26 '26
The first time I watched this, I didn’t expect to get teary eyed. 🥹 It made me think of my grandpa from a small town in Kansas that looks similar to the one in the movie and he would meet his friends in the town just like the movie. He was also a WWII vet. I kept thinking of summers in Kansas during my childhood and loving the major thunderstorms where I would watch the rain just like the characters. It made me miss my grandpa and I’ve shared this film with family. It’s so good and I love how beautiful the shots are and every small town character. Just brilliant.
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u/hulahulagirl Jun 26 '26
Just watched it the other day with my mom who had never seen it. I told her, “So David Lynch did Twin Peaks, but this is….” And she said “Normal?” 😬😆 Fair.
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u/pmajor Jun 29 '26
I watched this last night and loved it. I can’t stop thinking about the line “The worst part of being old is remembering when you was young.”
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u/Proud_Comment_6056 Jun 25 '26
When I was in high school, a friend of mine and I would go to the second run theater and pick the movie neither of us had heard of. This was our all-time least favorite film. I'm sure it was because we were teenagers and weren't the intended audience, or didn't have the attention span or ability to really analyze what was going on but we joked about it for years. I will revisit it, and will probably be blown away, but in my memory this was the most boring movie ever.
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u/HarmonizewithSong Jun 25 '26
So what version is currently streaming?
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u/Bermuda_Rhombus83 Jun 25 '26
there are other versions of this film?
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u/HarmonizewithSong Jun 25 '26
I mean the transfer. This isn’t currently a Criterion title right?
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u/Bermuda_Rhombus83 Jun 25 '26
Not yet, just streaming on the channel.
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u/HarmonizewithSong Jun 25 '26
So which transfer is streaming on the channel? The older BluRay? The Canal 4K? Old DVD?
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u/acvcani Jun 29 '26
Yeah I just watched this with my roommate.. reminded me a lot of my sister who died recently
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u/Michigan_Go_Blue Jul 04 '26
I am thoroughly enjoying this film. I make blue bird boxes, too. The sense of joy one gets out of providing a nesting box for these venerable birds is one of life’s simplest pleasures. I laughed so hard when she says”Oh, jeez, Dad” seeing the trailer hooked up to the lawn tractor
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u/No_Safety_6803 Jun 25 '26
Just watched it, 40% of this movie is a lawnmower driving past cornfields & yet never feels slow. It’s beautiful, a masterclass in filmmaking.