I’m the last person in the world to complain about the choices of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as far as Oscar nominations go, but last night I was finally able to catch the film Get Low thanks to a special screening at the 2011 Macon Film Festival and I’m astonished it wasn’t considered to be one of the best 10 films of last year.
I first heard about the film when another one of our writers did a post about Robert Duvall’s interview with Mike Huckabee to promote Get Low back in July. A movie about an aging mountain man who steps out of his loner life to throw a funeral party for himself while he’s still alive? Starring Robert Duvall? With Bill Murray?!? It was already my favorite movie of the year!
I waited for it to pick up enough steam to eventually show “at a theater near me,” but that never happened. As a matter of fact, there was very little talk about the film and I thought perhaps it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It had been relegated to “future NetFlix queue” status when I was invited to the Macon Film Festival and saw that they were screening Get Low. So I decided to make the trip and see for myself.
I confess that I have yet to see The Fighter, 127 Hours or Winter’s Bone (although the latter is currently sitting in a red envelope on my DVD player ready to go), but I have no issue in saying that Get Low is at least as good as the other seven nominees. There’s no need for fans of those films to be defensive because I’m a HUGE fan of all of them. Well, except for Inception. You can be defensive about Inception if you so choose – it won’t work, but you’re welcome to have at it.
^ Get Low writer Scott Seeke (2nd from L) and producer Don Mandrik (2nd from R) discuss the film at the 2011 Macon Film Festival with filmmaker Michael Dunaway (L) and MAGA rep Terrell Sandefur. Photo: Gracen Strong
Get Low is visually stunning thanks to the masterful work of cinematographer David Boyd (Deadwood, Sons of Anarchy), who is one of the best at creating gritty textures whether it’s a South Dakota saloon in the late 1800s, a biker bar in modern-day Charming, California or a rural country cabin in the hills of Eastern Tennessee in the 1930s.
There are stylized, almost mystical moments like the burning house from the opening scene and Felix Bush’s ride into town, but most of the film is purely, authentically country – from the detailed chaotic gnarl of Felix Bush’s (Duvall) pre-trimmed countenance, to his kerosene-lit cabin, to the all-wooden interior of a Bush-built Illinois sanctuary. The best word I can think of to sum up the sounds and smells of how the film looked is the overused but appropriate term “authentic.”
The screenplay is epic yet restrained, universal yet entirely personal. The themes of love, sin, guilt, God, damnation and redemption told through the tragic life of a single human being bring to mind Shakespeare with the eccentric Southern characters and explosive stored-up spiritual energy of a Flannery O’Connor story. (I kept waiting for a song by The Band to start playing.)
The plot could be considered “high-concept” but is handled delicately and naturally both in the writing and the acting, resulting in absolute believability. It’s emotional without being sentimental, it’s enlightening without being preachy and it’s purely hillbilly without being condescending or silly.
But don’t think for a moment that this is a purely dark film about death. There is humor. There is wit. There is love. There is joy. There is life. The film breathes because it is all of these things. The film also breathes because of the OSCAR-WORTHY performances of the cast.
Robert Duvall is a woolly-faced Robert Duvall – and that takes nothing away from his perfection in the film. During the panel discussion about the movie, writer Scott Seeke said that the Felix Bush role began and ended with Duvall and that he could not imagine anyone else playing the character – and he was right. The character needed to be a wide array of contradictions – ornery and humble, hardened and spiritual, anxious and patient, crazy and wise, non-believing and repentant, a manipulative loner. There aren’t many people on this planet that can pull that off on a movie screen and Robert Duvall is undoubtedly one of them.
Bill Murray was Bill Murray too, but his Bill Murrayness as funeral director Frank Quinn delivers an unexpected depth – and I don’t say “unexpected” because it’s Bill Murray in the role, but because his character is introduced as someone seemingly shallow – almost purely comical. But, audience members are invited to take a step in the “kiddie pool of Quinn” and without giving away too much, many will be surprised to find themselves in over their heads!
The supporting cast of Lucas Black (Sling Blade, The War, Crazy In Alabama), Bill Cobbs (The Hudsucker Proxy, One Tree Hill) and Sissy Spacek (no titles needed) are superb – a humble, kind and open-hearted ensemble of characters that are the catalyst for Felix Bush’s ability to seek redemption. As Felix says at a crucial point in the film to Black’s character Buddy Robinson, “For every one like me, there’s one like you, son.”
I realize that this “review” is a bit vague, but I don’t want to talk about the particulars in the movie because I think the less you know about it going in the better. I strongly advise not watching the trailer, but I’m going to include it at the bottom anyway.
The point I really wanted to make is that this movie is clearly one of the best ten movies of the year, and I would offer up that it is the best of all of them. As I mentioned before, aside from Inception I think all of these films are fantastic motion pictures, but none were as succinctly potent and revelatory as Get Low. (And I’m no dark and artsy snob – prior to seeing Get Low I probably would have cast my vote for Toy Story 3.)
I know that the Academy Awards aren’t as simple as they seem and that this film probably suffered from actually being released in 2009 before being withdrawn for Oscar consideration until the following year. But I can’t help thinking that if Get Low had gotten the Precious/Oprah treatment with some sort of honorary Cohen Brothers co-production credit or something along those lines that this would be the favorite going into this weekend’s ceremony.
I also know that not being nominated for an Academy Award takes absolutely nothing away from the impact the film had on me or others who have already seen it or will see it in the future. But it is frustrating to me that the film doesn’t get the boost it deserves from the Academy for being a damned fantastic movie.
That being said, a write-up on starcasm.net should have just about the same impact as being nominated for Best Picture, right?
Get Low was just released on DVD and Blu-ray today! Order your copy from amazon.com now!
Here’s the trailer I promised, but like I said, I strongly advise NOT watching it. the less you know about the film before you see it the better.
2011 Academy Award nominees for Best Picture:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
127 Hours
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
