Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek, Get Low is a story of redemption, forgiveness and reputation. Loosely based on a true story, Get Low is about an old hermit living in the woods who decides to attend his own funeral. Living in isolation for about forty years, Felix Bush started to get a reputation of being a crazy and horrible man. He heard about all these stories about him but didn’t actually know the stories since nobody was actually courageous enough to talk to him. So, naturally, he wanted to hear these stories and knew that people would say them at a funeral eulogy. One problem though, he wasn’t dead. But why does he have to be?
The local funeral home was low on money and saw the old man had a wad of cash and wanted to have a funeral. So Frank Quinn, comically played by Bill Murray, decided to give him one. They ended up calling it a funeral party and things were set in motion to make it happen. As time passed, it became the biggest event of the town but something was wrong. The old hermit, Felix didn’t actually want to hear people tell stories about him; he wanted to tell a story of his own. However, he wasn’t brave enough to say it himself, tried talking a couple old acquaintances to do it for him, but wasn’t able to find anybody to do it for him. Instead of figuring out what people thought about him, he wanted to set things straight himself and release a secret that he had been holding in for decades.
It’s remarkable how the film kept the feel and tone of the 30s which is when the story took place. The cast was incredible and delivered their parts only as top actors could. Robert Duvall was this stubborn old hermit who you could tell was always thinking, knew exactly what was going on, and what was going to happen even though he didn’t speak many words. Sissy Spacek’s scene with Duvall as he began to speak the truth was powerful and felt very real…their chemistry was uncanny. Bill Murray only has to open his mouth for one line and you’re laughing so he was perfect for this role and was hilarious even though he wasn’t really saying jokes back to back. He was just a funny and likeable character.
The story kept getting bigger and better as the movie went on. You get the different perspectives of the cast of characters and slowly realize Felix’s plan as it unfolds before your eyes. What begins as a funny scenario of someone attending their own funeral turns into a meaningful and serious idea of making things right before it’s too late. It’s a great story packaged in a great movie that an older audience would enjoy. I doubt this will get a major release but be sure to look out for it in limited theaters, festivals, or on TV/DVD when it becomes available.
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Tags: Bill Murray, Get Low, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, South By Southwest, SXSW
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
