As they covered Twin Peaks, the hosts of Twin Peaks Unwrapped have also been watching all of David Lynch's films. This month they finally reached the last film on their list - one of Lynch's most unusual. The only screenplay to which he didn't contribute (it was written by his long-time romantic and creative partner Mary Sweeney), it tells the true story of a man who traveled from Iowa to Wisconsin on a lawnmower, hoping to visiting a brother who had fallen ill. The Straight Story is a Disney-produced rated-G film that nonetheless feels deeply Lynchian to me. When I was asked which movie I would like to talk about with Unwrapped, this was the one I chose. We're joined by John Thorne, publisher of the legendary Wrapped in Plastic magazine, and together we look at why the film is so effective, how it relates to Lynch's filmography (including Twin Peaks), and whether or not there are secrets hidden in even this most straightforward of his works.
For more, you can read my review of the film from my David Lynch retrospective in 2014, and the follow-up essay in which I discuss the evolution of all of his work, including this.
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