Review of The Sunset Limited (2011) by Tr J — 02 Jun 2016
The filmed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's play is mostly compelling conversation in a single ghetto room, with Samuel L Jackson delivering a powerful performance as the streetwise black Christian trying to convince Tommy Lee Jones' pseudo-existential academic not to kill himself after Jackson has saved him earlier that day from the first attempted suicide.
The play is filmed bare-bones, raw and thoroughly invested in its dialogue. The writing is generally excellent, and Jackson makes the most of it, giving life to a character who wants desperately to save souls after being saved himself and believing Jesus has given him this mission.
Jones' character is a bit less convincing, with a smaller role, as the faithless man whose intelligence and culture have done nothing to breathe life into him, leaving him in a nihilistic despair from which there seems to be no escape.
The filmmaking is spare but subtly artistic in its way, using a dilapidated room for the two men to see whose belief system might prove more persuasive.
This review of The Sunset Limited (2011) was written by Tr J on 02 Jun 2016.
The Sunset Limited has generally received very positive reviews.
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