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Get Low

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4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Aaron Schneider's "Get Low" is a slight, unpretentious film that would blow away in the wind if it weren't anchored by some truly wonderful performances. Based on a true story, "Get Low" is set during the Great Depression, in the Appalachian hills of Georgia. Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) an old hermit feared and despised by his neighbors, hires the local funeral director (Bill Murray) to organize a "funeral party" so he can hear what the locals have to say about him before he's actually dead. That climactic event proves the occasion for Felix to make a full confession to his neighbors about the horrific event, forty years before, that cost him his reputation and has haunted him ever since.

Frankly, not much happens in "Get Low" before that climax, but it's mostly a pleasure to watch, thanks to Schneider's deft, low-key direction and the extremely fine acting, especially by Duvall and Murray. Duvall has made a career specialty of backwoods eccentrics, and his Felix Bush is one of the more memorable of them. The pain in Duvall's eyes blasts away any suggestion of mawkish sentimentality that might be inherent in the film. Murray is equally fine as a man who has more than a little con man in him, but who also has seen enough sorrow in life to spark his essential decency. The earnest Duvall and the roguish Murray play beautifully off each other, as fellow travelers on the Train of Sadness.

Sissy Spacek, as an old flame of Felix's, doesn't have much to do, but it's nice to see her anyway. Bill Cobbs is tartly amusing an a preacher who knows Felix's secret, and Lucas Black is extremely likable as Murray's assistant. "Get Low" is a gentle, poignant film, memorable for the acting.

Robert Duvall should have been in contention for an oscar with his complicated portrayal of Felix Bush, a 40-year hermit from the mountains of Tennessee. Bill Cobbs' performance was also remarkable as an Illinois preacher. In actuality, all the acting was stellar. Bill Murray was worth his weight in yen as the more-than-happy-to-oblige funeral director. This innovative storyline of Felix's wish for his own funeral service during his lifetime was perfectly-paced to let each character unfurl. And it was just the right length. Both the photography and costuming were stunning and gave the impression that this really was bound by that period in time. Even the currency had a look of authenticity from back in the days of the Great Depression. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the soundtrack, especially Alison Krauss' splendidly apropos "Lay My Burden Down".

"Get Low" takes place in the thirties and is about Felix who lives in the Tennessee woods for forty years as a foul-tempered recluse having little to do with the local townspeople. The old bearded coot is played by Robert Duvall who does a great but effortless-seeming acting job. He has a guilty secret which has driven him into seclusion. When an old acquaintance dies, he decides to have a funeral, but he decides he wants it to be a party, and he wants people to tell stories about him, and he wants to be there while he's still alive. Felix infrequently comes into town with his old mule. It's fun looking at the old thirties cars and the period hearse.
It's only later as the movie moves along that you realize this is really a mystery movie. One of the first clues comes when an old flame Sissy Spacek runs out on Felix after seeing a photograph on his wall. As a viewer you wonder what gets her so agitated. What Felix wants is one particular friend, an Afro-American minister (played by Billy Cobbs) to tell what he knows about him. Not that Felix built a beautiful church for the minister but what he confessed to him.
As the funeral director, Bill Murray is very winning playing the part of a man who is funny, sly, maybe a bit of a crook. He is only too happy to get paid for the strange funeral party because his business is tanking, not like his former home in Chicago where people were regularly getting bumped off.
It's actually a tour de force role for Duvall, but movie acting has gotten so deeply ingrained in him that he can make it seem organic. The movie is about peeling away layers of humanity in each character, and we slowly see them evolve into better people that we can admire.
It's a piece of magic storytelling which moves at a stately pace, a measured pace, but you don't get bored and you don't want it rushed because it is inevitably going to be revelatory, and Felix's secret is going to be eased out.
Basically it's a very simple story concerning a man who does not want to go to his grave with a guilty conscience.
Murray's young assistant, the deus ex machina, the catalyst, for a lot that happens in the story, is well-played by good-looking young Lucas Black. It's a movie of subtlety, humor, and deep human emotion, but I do have a lot of trouble remembering what I think is a lousy title.

No special effects or much action in this movie, but still it is a good movie to watch.

It is about a hermit (wonderfully played by Robert Duvall) who live in the woods isolated from the towns people. As the story develops, we understand more and more why he decided to live like a hermit: to punish himself for the mistake that he made 40 years or so earlier. In fact, he publicly discloses his mistake in the climax of the movie towards the end.

Bill Murray is very funny, in a serious manner that he plays his role as funeral director. Good cast, good acting, and good plot.

One should watch this movie if for no other reason than to watch masters at work. But the real delight is Duvall's speech at the funeral party. It is as full of character as any I recall seeing in any film. It grips you by the shirt, pulls you close and does not let go until it is over. Great performance by Duvall - if it is not an Oscar nomination for best actor then something is seriously wrong with the process.

Robert Duvall is one of the best American actors of the past half century. Witness his roles in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather I and II, The Great Santini, Apocalypse Now, Open Range, and a full TV resume including Lonesome Dove. In Get Low, he gives a measured, understated performance as a mysterious, old hermit who makes an unusual, life changing decision. This independent film is deceptively simple and honest. Yet it is done extremely well and leaves a deep feeling about life's regrets.

After the brief image of a house burning down, we flash forward to a rural setting in the 1930's to see an old home inhabited by a reclusive, elderly man, Felix Bush (Duvall), whose disheveled appearance and reputation are the stuff of rumor and legend. Are the stories about him true? Is he a killer? Haunted by visions of a woman, he decides to arrange his own funeral before his actual demise. The funeral home is run by Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) and his loyal assistant, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black). Felix wants to invite everyone who has a story about him to tell. He sweetens the pot by offering to raffle off his vast acreage of property. He also runs into an old acquaintance, Mattie (Sissy Spacek), who has strong ties to him from way back. He later pays a visit to a preacher in another town in hopes of having him conduct the eulogy. As the plot thickens, we find that Felix is hiding a painful secret that will have the town reexamining its prejudices and assumptions about a tortured soul who is struggling for his own redemption before it's too late.

Novice director Aaron Schneider, whose previous credits were as a cinematographer of various TV shows and movies, does a solid job with a modest budget and a lean story and script by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell.

It's nice to see veteran actors like Duvall, Spacek, and Murray play older characters, wrinkles and all with enthusiasm and conviction. Duvall does a splendid job of presenting a cipher of a man whose words are sparse and direct and slowly, as the story develops, begins to open up to reveal a complex person replete with feelings of guilt. There are reasons perhaps for why he is the way he is. Duvall is destined for an Oscar nomination, and Spacek arguably deserves a nod for strong support. Bill Murray as the funeral director does a convincing job as a businessman who isn't quite a villain or hero. He is carving a nice career niche as a dramatic character actor (aside from being a comedic superstar).

The film successfully evokes the period of depression era, small town USA. There are few items to quibble about; however, a violent break in at the funeral home doesn't really forward the plot and is never fully explained.

There are similarities in Felix and the noble character in The Ballad of Cable Hogue. In both films, the protagonist is an aged, stubborn loner, and in the end, as his life is in its twilight, the truth sets him free. Perhaps the lesson here is that each person has a story, and some of the stories are not always evident. With Get Low, we get to see the bittersweet tale of a broken heart. Your heart will be moved too.

"Get Low" is a winning, well-acted shaggy-dog story that showcases a polished, considered performance by Robert Duvall. The man has aged into one of our finest hams (that's not an insult) and his every gesture and facial expression is calibrated and controlled for maximum impact. Bill Murray wisely accepts the role of second banana and underplays his character, selling his lines with a dry, behind-the-beat inflection. Lucas Black does some excellent non-verbal acting, providing the glue between Duvall and Murray. There really isn't much for Sissy Spacek to do, but it's wonderful to see her and she fleshes out a rather flat character. I'm not sure how this movie was passed over by all the awards panels, but if you like polished, low-key, high-quality entertainment, you should see "Get Low."

I thought that "Get Low" would be a hands down winner during this years awards. Great story, outstanding actors wonderful sound track. It has not even been mentioned in this years awards. I have considered that the awards are for political purposes and not for artistic accomplishment and talent. I throughly enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.

As the eccentric Felix Bush in Aaron Schneider's 2010 film "Get Low," Robert Duvall effortlessly and adroitly infuses the screen with the sweet nuance of the human spirit. In his quiet, camera close-ups the audience marvels at this actor's great gift to enrich a small film with something remarkably indefinable yet magically akin to that illusive music of the spheres that supposedly sings with celestial harmony between the atoms that fuse together to create the ultimate human instrument. As the tortured, yet shrewd and wily Bush, Duvall vibrates with a resonance beyond the machinations and the need for redemption that reverberate through an entire money-starved Depression-Era town. At seventy-nine years young, he reigns as a master of technique, his ability to depict an entire emotional bank account spiked with the deposits of utter inexplicable happiness and the withdrawals of the most unforgivable sorrow shows the audience that he knows the secret to getting older gracefully while still maintaining full control.

The other players in "Get Low" compliment and showcase Duvall to perfection. Sissy Spacek as Felix's one-time girlfriend, Mattie, dually depicts the light and the shadow: a widow caught in the soft nostalgia of younger days where the flirtatiousness of dating and the ceremony of courtship still brings a youthful dimple to her cheeks and then a woman aghast at long ago goings-on behind her back of which her propriety and sense of righteousness could never allow her to comprehend let alone believe possible. Like Duvall, Spacek demonstrates the richness of her acting tally--she flips from refined matriarch to outraged rival with the ease of expertise and confidence in one's craft. As always, Bill Murray smartly hones the archetype of the Magician of the Tarot--part con man/dreambuilder/architect and part reluctant crusader/defender/good guy. The "aw-shucks" quality that Murphy possesses as the "swindler who could have had it all but just can't bring himself to be that bad" works well in the character of Frank Quinn who aware of the great human drama revolving around Felix Bush and his desire to throw a funeral for himself, nevertheless finds a way to doggedly make the best of that which he has to work without the obvious compromise. Lucas Black's (American Gothic - Complete Series, Legion and Sling Blade [Blu-ray]) Buddy rounds out the quartet with infectious hopefulness--as a new father with a pretty wife he embodies what could have been--his liquid brown eyes trust in the goodness of which he absolutely believes and the audiences knows he will deliver as the representative of a newer generation. A portion of me--the melodrama lover--wondered if Buddy would be, at the end, revealed in some way as Felix's offspring--bringing the sense of waste that Duvall's character exemplifies to some symbolic state of balance where the future lies ahead and not romanticized by a faded portrait on a cabin wall.

The screenplay written by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell moves at the right pace until the rather abrupt ending that works, but could have worked better with perhaps a little more tug on the heartstrings or a glimpse at the bitter resolution and despair of the Duvall character balanced by the youthful promise epitomized by Buddy and his family. Not that the idea of acceptance is not adequately depicted, it is, but the sentiment as shown comes off a bit murky. Perhaps at the climactic moment where the music and dancing at the funeral party seems muted and offset by Felix's need to come clean in a public announcement, a look into the inner workings of his mind and some disclosure may have worked better and moved the audience towards the acceptance acquired as depicted by the heart-wrenching gesture of Duvall proudly doing up his tie as he prepares to finally reencounter his lost love.

The lush cinematography shifting between the tranquility of the woodland paradise Bush created for himself and his resignation of having only a mule in which to enjoy the ride admirably creates a rather idyllic dreamscape of what could have been. The contrast of the town with its preconceived and sometimes dead-on perceptions of Bush, his rifle and his killer mule reminds us that as with all things of the heart, there is indeed more than what meets the eye.

Bottom line? In Aaron Schneider's "Get Low," the audience is treated to a wonderfully strong performance by Robert Duvall who as a self-imposed hermit living in the woods for forty years decides that in the act and ceremony of dying he will find the redemption and salvation that will bring him back to life. A beautiful exploration that allows the audience to navigate the side alleys of the human heart. Look for Oscar nominations for Duvall and Spacek. Highly recommended.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

Best movie I have seen in a long time. If you are a Robert Duval fan...this is a wonderful performance. Don't miss it.