GET LOW

“GET LOW” (Robert Duvall, Bill Murray & Lucas Black)

Earlier this year I said the Michael Douglas’ film “Solitary Man” was the type I wished they made more of – THIS is what I meant. ‘Get Low’ is the first shoe-in for Best Picture that I’ve seen & every actor in it deserves recognition for a job VERY well done.
It has humor, drama & is shrouded in mystery as you wonder what happened in Felix Bush’s past that turned him into a crotchety old hermit who shoots at the kids who sneak out to his house to throw rocks at the windows. As Felix becomes more sociable his story is slowly leaked, but just enough to peak your interest as you also come to like the old coot – It was especially easy for me being somewhat of a loner (& a coot) myself.
Robert Duvall plays the hermit who lives alone in the woods with just his elderly mule, Gracie, for companionship. (Felix puts up a sign that reads ‘No Damn Trespassing – Beware Of Mule’)
When the local pastor (Gerald McRainey) ventures out to Felix’s place to inform him that someone he knew recently passed away, Felix begins to wonder if he might be the next to go. This makes him worry about how he’ll be remembered, so he offers the pastor a large wad of cash to throw him a funeral – one, which would include Felix... alive so he can hear the stories everyone will be telling after he’s gone. The pastor refuses, but Frank Quinn, the local funeral parlor owner (Bill Murray) does not. He accepts the old man’s wad of cash with glee. But then Felix’s demands become more extravagant, to the point where he goes on the local radio station to ‘encourage’ citizens to attend his live ‘wake’.
Although I loved him playing someone named Bill Murray in ‘Zombieland’, Quinn may be the best role Murray has ever portrayed. I also think Lucas Black as Frank’s assistant, Buddy, might be deserving of a Supporting Nomination as well. Duvall is a given for a Best Actor nod.
Although piecing the clues together was fairly easy it did not lessen the impact when Felix finally reveals why he built himself a ‘personal jail’ to live in for 40 years to pay for his past sins. Sissy Spacek as Mattie, the one person in town who knew what Felix was like when he was young, fits her role perfectly as well. When Frank & Buddy ask Felix how he knows Mattie, the old crony retorts, “I threw down with her once.”
Which, like a lot of the scenes, ends up being another piece of Felix’s troubled, puzzling past.
The only problem I had with ‘Get Low’ - other than I still don’t know what the title means even though Felix says it to the pastor in an early scene; I’m guessing he meant that it’s his turn to die – is they don’t tell you what happens to Gracie at the end.
This & ‘Shutter Island’ are clearly the 2 best films of 2010 (so far)
My top 10 would include; Iron Man 2 / The Ghost Writer / Solitary Man / Edge Of Darkness (sorry, Mel haters, it was a good film) / Robin Hood / Despicable Me / Green Zone / Hot Tub Time Machine