Drowning in the Poole...

Do not, I emphasize, DO NOT watch Henry Poole Is Here if you are even mildly depressed. This is not a movie for the faint of heart. I saw the previews and thought it would be humorous, and I was so wrong. Henry (Luke Wilson) is unrelentingly, depressingly morose, and for good reason. He has had a sad and miserable life and is now dying young with neither past nor future to cling to in his dark night. He has lost faith.

Enter a bad stucco job on the house he has just bought in which to die. There's a water stain indelibly etched into the back of his house and his neighbor, Esperenza (Adriana Barraza), is convinced it is the face of Christ. Add a lovely and enticing newly divorced mom (Radha Mitchell) and her troubled child (Morgan Lily) and you have the formula for a feel-good miracle play.

No.

This is not a feel-good flick. It is the story of a man at the end of his rope who has no where to turn and no way to look but up. It might have been meant to be inspiring, but it just left me crushed. All the situations are too true to life, and in life, we know what Henry knows, miracles seldom happen.

Now Let Me Get This Straight...

I haven't had much time for watching movies this year. Working several grants and dealing with the excitement and adjustments to construction at the library has left my home time distracted and, I'll confess, I've had to keep my head pretty squarely in The Real to cope. So, when my good friend Po asked if I had seen The Straight Story from Disney studios and I said no and he proceeded to tell me the plot, I wasn't interested in watching but was intrigued enough to at least think about reviewing it for purchase. Resolute fellow that he is, he bought it and insisted that I watch.

I gave up on my disabled VCR at home and curled up one evening at the library, complete with Sonic supper and Oreo, the library cat, and this gentle, sweet movie.

Sweet.

That is the word that most comes to mind as I think on it. Sweet. Richard Farnsworth (Misery, The Natural) brings Alvin Straight to life as the stubbornly determined man who rides a 1966 John Deere lawnmower 260 miles from his small town in Iowa to the home of his brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton, The Green Mile). The brothers, who had been very close in their childhood, have become estranged over hasty words and, as the movie opens, have not spoken in 10 years. Alvin is in poor health but refuses a walker and gets around with two canes instead. He learns that Lyle has had a stroke and realizes that time is short for both of them. He determines to make amends. Because of failing eyesight, he is unable to drive but he refuses to be deterred and builds a trailer to haul behind his riding mower and begins the journey.

The film is an account of his odyssey, the people he meets along the way, and the changes he brings in the lives of those he meets. Interestingly enough, most of the characterizations are wooden and amateurish, but the film still works on a powerful level. Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek bring depth to their recreation of the real life Alvin Straight and daughter Rose, and it is the gentility of this resolute man who has learned well the lessons of his life that carries the film.

It took some doing to get to see it, but I'm oh so glad I did. Look for it on DVD at the library.