Review of Get Low (2010) by Mark W — 20 Feb 2011

Duelling banjos and grown men squealing like pigs while being sodomised by...sorry...wrong film. This film is very far from John Boorman's brutal and violent classic "Deliverance" and shouldn't even be mentioned in the same light. Backwoods southern characters is all they have in common and this is an altogether gentler depiction.

Felix 'Bush' Breazeale (Robert Duvall) is a hermit who has kept to himself for 40 years, causing much interest from the local townsfolk. Now in his twilight years, he decides to hold his funeral while he's still alive so he can enjoy the experience and tell the locals a few things about his life and his shrouded past. When a massive crowd turns out on the day, he finds that he's become a celebrity as a result.

It's no surprise that first time director Aaron Schneider was once a cinematographer. He captures the wonderful southern setting's time and place beautifully. Good use of slide guitar music to accompany also and a few fine actors thrown into the mix.

Duvall's acting in the final act with the revelation to his character is powerhouse stuff, showing why he's considered one the greats of the screen. Able support from Bill Murray and Lucas Black as Felix's funeral directors and Sissy Spacek as his former lover also, but I still couldn't help but feel that it was all a tad uneventful and whimsical. Everything and everyone looked the part but the whole wasn't the sum of it's parts and it left me feeling a little disappointed. Maybe our southern backwoods American friends should be stereotyped as violent inbred rapists, if only to provide a better quality of entertainment for our viewing pleasure.

Not a bad film. In fact, it's really good at particular moments but it just comes across as pointless and lacks stimulas.