David Lynch is probably one of the last directors you'd expect to appear on a liist of uplifting movies to ease the January blues - most people tend to think of dark, surreal forays into the subconsciousness; movies like Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. The Straight Story is certainly aptly named for a Lynch film. Unlike most of his other movies there's nothing hiding beneath the surface of the rural middle America through which Alvin Straight passes on his tractor as he sets out to visit his dying brother. Based on a true story of the real journey made by the ageing farmer, this is a tender portrait of a kind old man and the compassionate, welcoming strangers he meets on his unusual trip. It might not provoke many belly laughs, but Lynch's wonderful pacing is mesmerising, while the cinematography captures the expansive rolling landscapes with great care, leaving the viewer with a warm and content afterglow.
