Film: Get Low
Year of production: 2009
UK Release date: 23rd May 2011
Distributor: Sony
Certificate: PG
Running time: 100 mins
Director: Aaron Schneider
Starring: Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Gerald McRaney
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Format: DVD
Country of Production: USA/Germany/Poland
Language: English
Review by: Natalie Meziani
Having gained sufficient film experience as the director of photography in Titanic and Kiss The Girls, Aaron Schneider steps up to direct his first full-length feature with Get Low. And with Bill Murray and Robert Duvall amongst the leading cast members, Schneider has landed himself with a very fortunate advantage. Get Low is loosely based on the true story of Felix "Bush" Breazeale, a hermit living in Tennessee who planned his own funeral party in 1938 to see what stories the locals would reveal about him.
Felix Bush is a recluse, adamantly living a solitary existence in his minimalistic backwoods shack; the only agreeable communication he experiences is with his horse. Happily shooting at visitors and terrifying children, Felix’s lonesome activity has crafted him into a local legend surrounded by ominous rumours.
Upon hearing of the bereavement of a fellow hermit, Felix has the sudden realisation that he is coming towards the end of his life. A dream about death sparks him into formulating a rather eccentric plan to hold his own funeral – while he’s still alive. The owner of the town’s funeral parlour, Frank Quinn, is experiencing some business difficulties due to a frustrating lack of death, and so, out of financial desperation, he willingly agrees to Felix’s strange request of holding a pre-mortem funeral party. The townsfolk are asked to attend and divulge stories they have heard about Felix, using the chance to win his land in a raffle as incentive to participate.
We see a major publicity campaign erupt to promote such a grand occasion in what appears to be a rather uneventful town. During Felix’s unexpected return to the social periphery, a couple of characters appear who remember the warm and public man that he used to be, painting the way for the cleansing of his reputation – including Sissy Spacek as the character of Mattie, a local widow and an old love interest of Felix’s. The plot hints at a major turning point in Felix’s past, a reason why he has kept himself secluded for forty years, but nothing is embellished or revealed until the final climax…
David Boyd’s cinematography gives the film the final ingredient it needs to become a completed success; a warm colour palette and soft lighting accentuate the idea of nostalgic folklore, painting a dream-like and romantic equivalent of real life. The contrast between Felix’s dark wooden hideout and the town’s bright, idyllic scenery is handsomely executed, which is almost a shame for Schneider as he is no longer responsible for the film’s visuals. The 1930s backdrop and costumes are all perfectly considered, making Get Low an effortlessly pleasing aesthetic experience.
You may be forgiven for thinking that a film focusing entirely on one funeral party could be an arduous task, but, under the direction of Schneider, Get Low is allowed to excel by a team of radiant actors led by a great script. The film manages to perfectly balance the rather challenging combination of emotional psychology and comedy, giving it the powerful boost it needs to compensate for the absence of plot complexity or suspense.
The casting of Bill Murray as the undertaker and Robert Duvall as Felix are contributing factors to the quality of the screenplay, with Murray’s deadpan sarcasm delivering an ideal amount of humour to compliment Duvall’s exceptional standard of sombre acting. Spacek and Duvall both exhibit the fine talent of being able to communicate using just expression, which is wonderfully functional during Duvall’s long and moving funeral speech.
The predictability of the story’s clichés mean that characters are theoretically two-dimensional, however, the timing and intonation of the actors allow the entire piece to excel. There are also some nice subtle touches to make Felix’s underlying goodness believable, such as the horse which he welcomes as a companion and the introduction of characters who fondly remember him before he retreated to a lonely existence.
The fundamental error in Get Low is that, while Felix’s secrets may have been taboo in the 1930s, to a contemporary audience there is no meat to the bones of the story. 100 minutes of funeral planning could have been an unbearable watch had it not been brought together so well, supported by watertight acting and beautiful cinematography.
The brilliant construction of the film allows us to step into 1930s Tennessee, with authentic settings and great dialogue combining to depict a realistic snapshot of the era. While there are moments where the film’s slow pace feels exposed, it is always rescued by a hilarious and flawlessly timed line or an irritable grunt from Duvall which has the power to express a thousand words. NM
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