Review of The Sunset Limited (2011) by Walter M — 23 Feb 2011

There was an article in the New York Times on Sunday by A.O. Scott, lamenting when good actors appear in bad movies.(Of which, Robert De Niro is the unofficial king, by the way.) And while Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones have done their share of bad movies in the past, they more than show what they can do with excellent material with Cormac McCarthy's "The Sunset Limited" with only the set of a dilapidated apartment in Harlem between them.

Two lonely middle-aged men, one Black(Samuel L. Jackson) and one White(Tommy Lee Jones, who also directs), a university professor, have the best conversation they have had in a very long time.(The play is really not about race, by the way.) It's a shame that it took Black saving White from throwing himself in front of a subway train for it to happen. Black is trying to make sure White does not try it again, using the Bible as his one and only reference book while White counters with the awfulness of his surroundings and pretty much the entire human race.

Deftly, "The Sunset Limited" transcends its minimalist setting to get fully beneath your skin, no matter where on the debate you may be. Personally, I'll always side with the guy who has read more than one book. But in the spirit of the film's search for meaning in perhaps random events, I'm left wondering if there is any reason why the 155th Street-8th Avenue subway station, one stop away from Yankee Stadium, is specifically referenced.