In the Pipeline: That Evening Sun
I finally caught up with the SXSW Film Festival award winning That Evening Sun the other night and you can check out the latest trailer yourself over at Apple. Brought to life by an Oscar-worthy turn from the great Hal Holbrook, Scott Teems’ adaptation of William Gay’s modern southern gothic short story is a rich character piece and a vivid evocation of a specific time and place.
Holbrook plays Abner Meecham, a widowed Tennessee farmer who isn’t quite ready to let the world pass him by. Briefly consigned to a nursing home, Abner escapes only to find that his farm has been rented with an option to purchase by the son of an old family enemy. A contest of wills develops as Abner seeks to hold on to the only connection he has to his wife and the world.
The additions and subtractions Teems made to the story in adapting it into a feature length film leave it feeling a little ill-focused at times and the resolution isn’t entirely satisfying, but the whole thing still works beautifully thanks to the fully realized performance by Holbrook. He presents Meecham as a complicated man. Beyond the defiantly jutting chin and stubbornness is a man feeling his age and his encroaching irrelevance. The past is all he has and he’s held in limbo by old longings and distantly remembered offenses.
Ray McKinnon (Reverend Smith in Deadwood) is also excellent as Lonzo Choat, the drunken ne’er-do-well threatening to take over Meecham’s farm as much for revenge as to prove he’s a bigger man than he’s given credit for. As the villain of the piece, McKinnon could easily have fallen back on the Southern white trash stereotype, but the screenplay and his performance tap into the roots of a broken man’s rage and bitterness. He transforms Choat the monster into a complete character. While his actions remain unforgivable, they are at least understandable and recognizably human.
Rounding out the cast are fine performances from Carrie Preston (Transamerica, Lovely by Surprise) as Lonzo’s wife Ludie, Mia Wasikowska (HBO’s In Treatment and Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland) as his Lolita-esque daughter Pamela and Barry Corbin (No Country for Old Men and TV’s Northern Exposure) as Meecham’s neighbor, Thurl.
That Evening Sun might be too subtle to capture the public imagination the way the regionally slanted Sling Blade did, but if it can break through even a little bit there ought to be end-of-the-year awards love for Holbrook and perhaps McKinnon as well. It’s certainly deserved.
The film opens in limited release on November 6.
Filed under: Trailers, Upcoming
Tags: Barry Corbin, Carrie Preston, Hal Holbrook, Mia Wasikowska, Ray McKinnon, Scott Teems, That Evening Sun
As we all know, Jenny Bee’s review (already linked here at LIC) was a classic in and of itself. Now with Craig’s added approval, I think it’s chances have gone into the stratosphere.
Yes, JB has been ahead of the game on this one. I’ll look forward to it.
The movie is so good. Hal Holbrook needs that Oscar immediately.
It is because of Ms. Bee that I made a point of checking this one out. Being a Northwesterner, I always like a good evocation of an unfamiliar place, particularly one that hasn’t been well served by Hollywood.
I’m so happy you appreciated it, Craig.
Excellent review. I’ll come back and write more later, but for now, I’m just thrilled to jennybits.
I’ll be seeing this one as soon as it comes to town.
Thanks for encouraging me to seek it out JB.
This really is a great film. Anyone in the Denver area next month should try to catch it at the Starz Denver Film Festival. Holbrook will be on hand to pick up a special award, and do a post-screening Q&A.
Will you be conducting the Q&A in Denver?
btw…saw your quote on the poster. Nice.
Craig: Well… uh… yeah. Actually, this will be the second time I’m doing a Q&A with Mr. Holbrook. Maybe we should take our show on the road…
Bring it to LA. I’d go see it.
Have I mentioned that I loved this film? Lol. I guess I gave that away with my rave review over at Awards Daily, huh?
It’s a tiny, tiny film, and a mostly quiet one, but it spoke to me in powerful ways. Holbrook was so strong. The whole cast, really. The film isn’t perfect, no. But it gets so much right.
Teems subtracted almost nothing from the short story. I can only think of one scene, and that was a dream sequence, which would have been hard to pull off. He’s added a lot, while keeping it spare. Most of it was so well integrated into the framework of the source material that when I later read the short story, I was genuinely surprised by how much wasn’t in it. I agree the resolution is the weakest point. Unfortunate, that, because a strong ending is one of the best word of mouth amplifiers you can ever have.
And I’ve said it elsewhere, but Ray McKinnon’s talent should not be underestimated. I don’t know that he’ll get any awards attention, but he should. He’s 180 different than the character he plays and his performance on screen was just skeery good.
Endings are a bitch. No matter what else a film does, you leave remembering the ending.
“It’s a tiny, tiny film, and a mostly quiet one” agreed and in a good way, though it’s the kind of film that could get crushed under any kind of hype.
It IS too bad about McKinnon. As good as Holbrook is, I think he’s better…or at least it’s a more interesting character and McKinnon delivers. I didn’t know until I wrote this piece that he was the guy in Deadwood. He was great there too.
Can’t wait to see this next week in NYC- Nov. 6th, City Cinemas 1,2,&3. The trailer looks amazing and I think Hal Holbrook is a brilliant actor.