The Straight Story (1999)

While it's pretty surreal to see that Walt Disney castle followed so closely by the words, "a film by David Lynch", that S-word holds little sway over what is to follow. As the title states, this is "The Straight Story" but that does not mean that it is out of place among the rest of Lynch's output. That early scene of Dorothy sunning herself in the yard could easily be right out of Blue Velvet or Twin Peaks. The same goes for all the various characters Alvin lives with and comes across on his journey. Yet instead of playing them for menace or ridicule, Lynch instead chooses to take this languid road trip as an opportunity to show us that they are more than just roadside curiosities. Like John Merrick in The Elephant Man proclaiming, "I'm not an animal!" this is David Lynch insisting upon the humanity of the characters he continually chooses to train his camera on. While "surreal" is easily the word most associated with the cinema of David Lynch, I would place "compassionate" as a close runner-up.