Hollywood adolescent Aaron Schneider’s debut feature “Get Low,” a throwback film to classical character driven frontier dramas of Hollywood’s golden age, stars Robert Duvall as Felix Bush, a backwoods recluse who finally reenters society in his twilight years to plan a funeral party for himself — while he’s still alive.
A feared man who has generated more disquieting rumors than actual truths during his seclusion, Bush’s goal in this undertaking is for everyone with a story to tell to gather ‘round and share. Whenever a local admits to having heard a story about him, Bush replies, with a demand rather than a request, “Like what?” While his aims are clear, his motivations are a slowly unraveling puzzle of secrets, lies, and unrevealed guilt.
To say much more would be to spoil the surprise in this slow-boiling, character-driven drama, but his is a story of a life halted, and the answers that are slowly revealed throughout the film are both romantic and deeply revealing. In fact, it wouldn’t be much of stretch to call “Get Low” a character study mystery; that is, the film is reliant on our believing in the complexity of this mysterious character, but a complexity that it forged from a performance complimenting a revelatory story.
Duvall is strong as always, completely becoming his character as only a handful of working actors can. Surprising here, however, is Bill Murray’s turn as a money-driven funeral director struggling between his untapped humanism and his pecuniary pursuits, fulfilling the requisite role of the morally ambiguous ally to the protagonist.
Supporting turns by Sissy Spacek as an old friend with unknown ties to Bush’s troubled past and Lucas Black as a young do-gooder and funeral parlor apprentice whose righteousness inspires Bush fit in nicely without stealing away from what is essentially Duvall’s show.
And while the film at times suffers from the predictable tropes of the traditional redemptive tale (complications resolved just in the nick of time, unbelievable likability bestowed upon those needing absolution, etc.), the earnestness of the young filmmaker, the committed performances of the exceptional cast, and the purity of the heartfelt story make for a crowd-pleasing and solid, if ultimately unexceptional film. [B]— Luke Gorham