DRAMA; 1hr 42min
STARRING: Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray, Lucas Black
It’s all about me: from left, Duvall, Black and Murray
Even the most damaged men can crave absolution, and American folklore has it that Tennessee recluse Felix Bush (Duvall) was one such man. Get Low ’s Felix is the archetypal bogeyman: a grizzled, sinister mystery, he has sequestered himself in his bush cabin for 40 years. But Felix is as curious about how he is perceived as everyone is about his secrets. With old age looming, he decides to throw a funeral party at which he will be the living guest of honour and to which anyone with a story to tell about him is invited.
Get Low is director Aaron Schneider’s feature debut and while he could have stepped the speed up a few notches, the cast is quite an eyeful. Murray, that great intriguer, has his quirky way with sad dignity as a local funeral director, Spacek, still girlish at 61, is the wounded heart of the story as Felix’s old sweetheart, and Duvall is cagey and soulful in what could have been a pantomimic part. His climactic soliloquy, in which he relives a pivotal tragedy, is a piece of pure theatre.
