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Get Low
2010, Aaron Schneider
Good acting abounds in this amiable but ultimately a bit too lightweight fable about regret. Set in a small backwoods town in Depression Era Tennessee, Robert Duvall is Mr. Felix Bush, a cranky hermit with a rifle-popping greeting to strangers and no use for people, just him and his mule living on his dense, untended acreage. One day he ventures into town looking for the preacher, hoping to arrange his own funeral. The twist is he wants to have it while he's still alive. The church wants nothing to do with it, but the local undertaker, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), and his earnest assistant Buddy (Lucas Black) are willing to take on the task, especially as people don't seem to be dying at a rate that will keep the business solvent. Bush wants to invite anybody and everybody from the town or surrounding counties who will tell stories about him, 99% of which are local tall tales and dark rumors. There's also going to be a raffle, and whoever wins will legally inherit his timber-rich land when he kicks. While there is understandable reluctance at first, soon everyone is in a tizzy. Most everyone. There's one woman, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), recently returned to town, who seems to be one of the few humans who actually knows of him before he became the ill-tempered aged recluse.
It has a nice set-up, loving period detail, and all of the principle actors, including the venerable Bill Cobbs who plays a Reverend from the next State who knows some of Felix's darkest secrets, are just tops. Unfortunately the finale, that big funeral "party", is quite anti-climactic, and by the time the weary character is cleansing his soul all of the wit and steam have been replaced by a rather flat Hallmark Hall of Fame style conclusion. Cinematographer turned director Aaron Schneider's debut is beautifully shot and the assemblage of actors is impressive, but the script by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell doesn't have the conviction to either stick with the dark comedy until the bitter end or, barring that, layer in some legitimately emotional Capraesque fantasy. Despite the efforts of the strong cast, the ending is quite hollow and uninspiring.
While the flaws of the film's final third will keep it from becoming any kind of classic, the positives definitely make it worth a look, especially for previous Oscar winners Bobby Duvall and Sissy Spacek as well as former nominee Billy Murray, all of whom will be in the running for various prizes this coming awards season. Too bad the film as a whole isn't as good as the three of them.
GRADE: B-
Get Low
2010, Aaron Schneider
Good acting abounds in this amiable but ultimately a bit too lightweight fable about regret. Set in a small backwoods town in Depression Era Tennessee, Robert Duvall is Mr. Felix Bush, a cranky hermit with a rifle-popping greeting to strangers and no use for people, just him and his mule living on his dense, untended acreage. One day he ventures into town looking for the preacher, hoping to arrange his own funeral. The twist is he wants to have it while he's still alive. The church wants nothing to do with it, but the local undertaker, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), and his earnest assistant Buddy (Lucas Black) are willing to take on the task, especially as people don't seem to be dying at a rate that will keep the business solvent. Bush wants to invite anybody and everybody from the town or surrounding counties who will tell stories about him, 99% of which are local tall tales and dark rumors. There's also going to be a raffle, and whoever wins will legally inherit his timber-rich land when he kicks. While there is understandable reluctance at first, soon everyone is in a tizzy. Most everyone. There's one woman, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), recently returned to town, who seems to be one of the few humans who actually knows of him before he became the ill-tempered aged recluse.
It has a nice set-up, loving period detail, and all of the principle actors, including the venerable Bill Cobbs who plays a Reverend from the next State who knows some of Felix's darkest secrets, are just tops. Unfortunately the finale, that big funeral "party", is quite anti-climactic, and by the time the weary character is cleansing his soul all of the wit and steam have been replaced by a rather flat Hallmark Hall of Fame style conclusion. Cinematographer turned director Aaron Schneider's debut is beautifully shot and the assemblage of actors is impressive, but the script by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell doesn't have the conviction to either stick with the dark comedy until the bitter end or, barring that, layer in some legitimately emotional Capraesque fantasy. Despite the efforts of the strong cast, the ending is quite hollow and uninspiring.
While the flaws of the film's final third will keep it from becoming any kind of classic, the positives definitely make it worth a look, especially for previous Oscar winners Bobby Duvall and Sissy Spacek as well as former nominee Billy Murray, all of whom will be in the running for various prizes this coming awards season. Too bad the film as a whole isn't as good as the three of them.
GRADE: B-