Review of That Evening Sun (2009) by Chris Z — 08 Oct 2010

This movie is entirely, completely, and all about Hal Holbrook. He's brilliant, a marvelous acting job. The story is simple: an old man whose wife has passed away decides he hates living in a retirement home and returns home to his rural farmhouse to find a poor family now living there, rented by his lawyer son. The family refuses to leave, so he takes up residence in the slave cabin and a stand-off ensues. It's his property, but he signed over control to his son because of his age, and his son wants him gone and in the retirement home. The drunk and useless father of the family feuds with Holbrook, kills his dog, threats are made and guns are pulled.

The story ends up going in a slightly less-than-satisfying direction, but altogether a solid effort. I was a little dissappointed by the sub-story of Holbrook's wife, and I think that could have been handled more seriously and in a more interesting way to really complicate Holbrook himself. At first we are completely on Holbrook's side, and given no reason to expect otherwise, but his disrespectful son gives us a glimpse into a different side of Holbrook, that I think would have been interesting to solidify more, particularly in the way our perspective on the feud and on the 'white-trash' squatters shifts. Beautiful cinematography. But the real brilliance of the film is Holbrook's acting.