Get Low (M). Director: Aaron Schneider. Starring: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, Sissy Spaceck . 103 minutes
Get Low begins with the sight of a blazing rural homestead, and ends with the image of a small group of friends clustered around a humble grave. In between is the story of an old man's last bid for forgiveness and redemption. The film offers a meditation on getting old, and on the desire to garrote regret before mortality makes its final fatal lunge. Also, it's a comedy.
A gnarl of menacing myths has enveloped eccentric loner Felix Bush (Duvall) in the minds of the nearby townspeople. He is part boogeyman, part clown. Local children shirk his 'No Trespassing' signs to toss rocks at the windows of his backwoods shack, and flee in terror at the first sight of his lurching, scruff-bearded presence. Their parents equally mock and fear him.
But Felix's fiercely defended domicile, we discover, is also a self-imposed prison where, for 40 years, he has lived alone in a hell of guilt. We don't know — yet — the source of this guilt, but assume it has something to do with the old photograph of a young woman that he keeps above his bed and to which he speaks tenderly at night. Also, presumably, with that epilogistic vision of a flaming house.
Lately, Felix has death on his mind. He lands on the doorstep of down-on-his-luck funeral director Frank Quinn (Murray) and his boyish assistant Buddy Robinson (Black). He wants to buy a funeral. But not just any funeral. He wants to be alive and present — the guest of honour. And he wants everyone in town to attend. (A big ask for such a feared and hated man.)
Frank is skeptical, but is intimidated by Felix and swayed by the sight of the wad of filthy bills that the old man waves at him. Frank and Buddy find themselves suddenly cast as both party planners and PR reps as they set about turning Felix's scheme into reality. Comedy does ensue, but their gradual discovery of Felix's past, and his deeply buried pain and vulnerabilities, is the film's heart.
Get Low's cast both elevates the film and reinforces its themes. Duvall and Murray have been popular, well-known actors for decades; they are now 80 and 61 respectively. Spacek, who plays a central role as Frank's would-be love interest and a former lover of Felix's, is