That Evening Sun (2009)

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film is brilliant and a must see as other reviewers have already mentioned. The acting is masterclass and together with the brilliantly written dialogue paints the characters and their interactions in the fewest strokes possible. No wasted dialogues that bring nothing new to the story. I will not waste time mentioning how good Hal Holbrook is in the movie since every other reviewer has already done that.Instead I have to mention Ray McKinnon's performance as the troubled self-destructive alcoholic who s struggling to straighten himself out for the sake of his family. His portrayal both scares for being the dormant maniac that is at the edge of being unleashed at every stage and at the same time saddens for him being unable to reform himself due to a lot of external factors - him being unable to find a steady income , an old dude trying to snatch his family's home from him, his daughter dating a guy's son whom he detests for supposedly having stolen his grandfather's watch. The low lit sequences of him sitting in front of the television knee deep in self loathing and the weight of past regrets hanging over him is both scary and sad at the same time. At one point he tells his wife "People just can't understand that a guy can change". Ray McKinnon's Lonzo Choat is unforgettable.The only issue I had with the movie was with its messy third act. I mean I can understand the story treading a little offbeat path in its final stage to bring about a certain sense of realism and a non- cliché end. But it was too off putting for me. It was abrupt and doesn't give a sense of closure. I had already invested so much time in the Choat family and was at least hoping to see where things go for them. But the movie just completely disregards their plight at the end showing us nothing of them whatsoever. My heart was yearning to know what happens to them afterwards.But still a definite masterpiece with some brilliant shots and outstanding character studies. I'll definitely watch this a second time.

An aging Tennessee farmer returns to his homestead and must confront a family betrayal, the reappearance of an old enemy, and the loss of his farm.This is the perfect example of how to write an old bull can against the young bull one. Holebrook's character doesn't want trouble, just his pride and the right to go on living the way he once did. He doesn't have much left, but pride. The movie does a great job of making us care for Holebrook, something that was hard to pull off consistently. Hal Holebrook is magnificent, and Oscar worthy here in his portrayal of Abner Meecham. It was hard to pull off, but Holebrook manages to maintain likability along with his grouchy, potentially off-putting role. There's never a moment where we don't sympathize with him, even when he pushes the limits, we manage to emphasize with his actions. I've not seen Holebrook perform a better role than this one. Ray McKinnon is excellent as the hot-shot antagonist, wanting to take over the farm. You'll hate him, and possibly even understand his actions in some cases. Walter Goggins is very good as the ungrateful son of Holebrook's, he did well.Bottom line. The Sundance Film Festival struck gold with this one, and you will too. A must see 9 ½ 10

2009 seems to be the year of the cantankerous curmudgeon as far as the movies are concerned. With Clint Eastwood's 'Gran Torino', Pixar's 'Up' and now first-time writer-director Scott Teem's 'That Evening Sun', the focus is on the octogenarian who refuses to be put 'out to pasture' and take 'one last fling' at life; to prove at the very least that even elderly people have some dignity in spite of the indifference of an uncaring, younger generation.Hal Holbrook lands the the plum part of Abner Meechum, the 80 year old country boy who flees the nursing home where he's been living for the past few months. It seems that his well-intentioned son Paul, a successful lawyer, convinced him to check in at the home after breaking his hip in a fall back at the family farm. Even Abner acknowledges that he would have died had his neighbor not checked in on him after the accident.But Abner still has some spunk left (unlike the tired and complacent denizens of the nursing home) and manages to make his way back to the family farm (aided by a sympathetic cab driver, initially hired by the nursing home to bring the curmudgeon back). When Abner does arrive home, he's shocked to learn that local ne'er-do-well Lonzo Choat, along with his wife and teenage daughter are living in his house and have a rent with an option to buy agreement with son Paul. Abner has known Choat for years and always regarded him as 'white trash'; we soon learn that Abner's evaluation of Choat is correct: he's been living on disability for years, is now broke and is an alcoholic to boot.Abner decides to move in to the sharecropper shack on the property. He adopts a dog from kindly neighbor Thurl which infuriates Choat, who can't stand the dog's continuous barking. The conflict escalates when Choat begins whipping his daughter Pamela's date after they have returned from a late night foray; the date manages to escape by driving off the farm in a car and Choat turns his wrath on his wife and daughter, whipping them with the garden hose until Abner puts an end to it by firing a shot in the air. Choat is further infuriated after Abner reports the incident to the local sheriff's office. Although Choat is brought in for questioning, he's ultimately released; it's obvious that the wife and daughter end up refusing to press charges.While there's tons of sympathy for feisty Abner, ultimately we're asked to view him as a victim. On the other hand, Choat is a despicable character—someone who beats his womenfolk and even stoops to killing Abner's dog as payback for being turned into the police. Paul victimizes poor Abner further by assuming that his father is nuts, disbelieving his claims that Choat was guilty of domestic violence (Paul has a deep chip on his shoulder—blaming his father for most of his problems and claiming that he also mistreated his now-deceased mother). This supposedly explains why he's not interested in taking any of his father's accusations seriously (you would think that a normal person would be curious as to why Abner has brought his pet to a taxidermist and had it stuffed, but Paul simply blurts out, "we're not going to go there"). Poor Abner—he's become a symbol of another 'marginalized' minority group—this time, the elderly! Another perplexing issue is Paul's willingness to rent the house to the Choats in the first place. Is he totally ignorant of the Choats' reputation in the community? Or does he hate his father so much that he totally rejects his father's opinion about them and willing to give Lonzo a break? Certainly the Choats have a 'history' in the community and Paul cannot be unaware of that. Why rent a house with someone who's on disability who can't really afford it? We never find out why Paul is so altruistic toward Lonzo; certainly he's made no inquiries as to Lonzo's true financial status (and this is a lawyer who's renting the house?). Paul could have made a few inquiries as to Lonzo's character, independent of his father's accusations (Why not talk to the family of Pamela's date?—he could have then ascertained that his father was telling the truth about Lonzo). Like Lonzo, Paul is simply not a well-developed enough character.Despite the imbalance in the narrative between the protagonist and antagonist, Holbrook holds his own amongst the great curmudgeons 'of our day'. It's a nuanced performance that mixes pathos with humor and occasionally offers some real surprises (I was truly thrown for a loop after seeing how Abner responds once Choat kills his pet). Mia Wasikowska is equally fine as the low-key teenager who has poor timing in trying to bond with Abner as she walks in on him at the very moment he's about to kill himself.Choat does save Abner's life but it isn't enough for us to change our minds about him. The ending to 'That Evening Sun' is ambiguous. Does Abner die at the end and meet his wife in heaven? Or does he recover from the burns he suffered in the fire and pay one last visit to the farm?—only to head out to the assisted living facility, suggested by his son. And what of the Choats? Does the son allow them to remain or are they history since they're broke and can't pay the rent?'That Evening Sun' has received a substantial number of positive accolades. Are they justified? If you look at the plot, in which the deck is stacked in favor of the protagonist—with the antagonists receiving short shrift, then I would be inclined to disagree with all the favorable reviews. But if you focus on Hal Holbrook's character and his performance, then I can understand why the film has garnered such a positive response.

I had the privilege of seeing That Evening Sun last night at the Atlanta Film Festival. Scott Teems, Terrence Berry, Laura Smith, Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, and Larsen Jay were all in attendance and conducted an excellent Q&A afterwords. There's so much to this film, so I'll start with the acting and go from there. The movie was so perfectly cast, from Hal Holbrook to Ray McKinnon all the way down to Barlow Jacobs the cab driver - they all were so authentic and believable. There was a lot of very good dialog, but I felt in the moments of quiet grief, contemplation, and observation there was so much more said about the characters. The story itself was very simple - it had no effect on the world outside of the few characters involved - but again it made the whole situation believable and really struck home with a lot of audience members. The movie is very smart - it doesn't hit you over the head with actors stating "I feel remorse, I feel sad, I feel angry." You get to watch their actions in the present reveal their character and past. Location was perfectly southern, shot just outside of Knoxville on an old farm, complete with the tenant house seen (although the Q&A explained the actual tenant house was disassembled and rebuilt closer to the main house). There is something about truly southern movies that have a feel like no other with a landscape and sound you can't find in Canada, New Zealand, or LA. The music, done by Michael Penn and the Drive-By Truckers, completed the whole picture with a quiet southern flavor. Scott Teems explained in the Q&A that he wanted a lot of quiet time for the audience to absorb the story and the location. The music was present, but didn't drive scenes. All in all, this is one of the best independent films I've seen in recent years, and is instantly one of my favorite films of all time. Please go see this film, you will not regret the time spent!