PG-13 | 1h 42m | Drama, Comedy | 2010
It’s odd, ironic, and more than a little cruel that on the one day people we know are most likely to say something nice about us, we’ll never hear it. We’ll be there, stiff, cold, horizontal and in a box, but we’ll never be privy to the post-mortem accolades falling from the lips of those that knew (and hopefully loved) us best.
Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is quite sure he’s about to die, or, as he puts it, get low. He also wants to attend his own funeral vertically while still breathing. He’s certain no one there will have anything good to say about him as Felix is not the warm ‘n’ cuddly type. Scraggly, irascible and trigger-happy, the textbook curmudgeon Felix has been a hermit for the last 40 years.
The Ugly Truth
Smarter than he initially lets on, Felix doesn’t wish to hear the flowery, often exaggerated testimonials usually uttered at funerals. He wants the truth: the ugly, soul-bearing truth. Felix seems almost desperate to invite ridicule and scorn and is willing to pay a pretty penny in order to do so. He feels terrible about something and hopes someone somewhere will come out of the woodwork and make it public, so he won’t have to. This guy is in extreme mental turmoil.In a move to ensure a healthy turnout, Felix sells raffle tickets to the event for $5.00 a pop, with the winner inheriting his considerable estate.
Felix’s unorthodox plan couldn’t come at a better time for funeral home director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray). Perplexed as to why people aren’t dying with the frequency he would like, Frank views Felix as an eccentric codger. He also sees him as one with scads of rumpled money who might require some minor hand-holding and finesse maintenance.
Moral Fiber
Married with a child, Buddy is ethically sound (something Frank is not), and Felix recognizes him as a straight-shooting kindred spirit. The pair slowly develop an uneasy, mutually respectful alliance.Uneasy could also describe Felix’s relationships with the recently widowed Mattie (Sissy Spacek) and Charlie (Bill Cobbs), a preacher from up north. Both possess sketchy details about Felix’s past, as neither knows the full story. Each remains tight-lipped about what they do know.
Taking place in what looks like the tail end of the Great Depression, “Get Low” was shot in Atlanta and its outlying suburbs, and rarely have such quaint vistas looked so pristine. Georgia provides a gorgeous backdrop for “Get Low.”
Oscar-winning (“Two Soldiers”) short-film director Aaron Schneider’s first feature is aesthetically superb, but is slightly lacking with the final wrinkle plot reveal. It’s moving and heartbreaking, but doesn’t deliver the smacked-upside-the-head-whammy the build-up suggests. After the final bit of information, we realize this movie is more of a “journey” and less than a “destination” type of story.
What Schneider and his two screenwriters lack in payoff acumen is more than made up for with the director’s veteran-level prowess with his actors. Every performer, including bit players with just one or two lines, is spot-on spectacular.
Reunions
“Get Low” marks two cast reunions. Duvall and Spacek played husband and wife in the holiday-themed romantic comedy “Four Christmases” two years prior. In 1996, Duvall and Black (in just his second movie) appeared in “Sling Blade,” although never together on-screen.
The year following “Get Low,” Black and Duvall both starred as professional golfers in the highly uneven, not-real-good “Seven Days in Utopia.” Late critic Roger Ebert said, “I’d rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again.” I wouldn’t go quite that far, but you get the point.
If you’re someone who normally bolts out of the theater or turns off the TV as soon as the closing credits start, don’t do that here. The theme song, Alison Krauss’s “Lay My Burden Down,” is an achingly life-affirming ballad that accomplishes in four what the movie itself couldn’t quite do in the previous 98.
