SnoopyStyle Grumpy old man Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) walks away from his retirement living. He returns to his Tennesse farm after 3 months to find Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) occupying it. His son Paul (Walton Goggins) had rented it with an option to sell. Abner is unwilling to leave and starts living in the adjacent slave cabin. Lonzo is a drunk. He beats his daughter Pamela (Mia Wasikowska) and wife Ludie (Carrie Preston) after Pamela comes home with a boy. Thurl Chessor (Barry Corbin) is a neighbor. These are great performances of compelling characters. Holbrook shows a terrifically pained bitter person. Everybody delivers in this. There is quiet tension throughout.

vegfemnat 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.

bob-790-196018 Early in the film, when young Pamela Choat first tries being friendly to crusty old Abner Meecham, I said to my wife, "This better not end all warm and fuzzy." Well it didn't. It was a film of nuances and complexities. When we first meet Abner's lawyer son Paul, a hyper-busy lawyer who had "persuaded" Abner to go into the old folks' home, I said, "Why are lawyers always portrayed as bad guys?" But toward the end, as Paul finds himself dealing with yet another crisis in his dad's life, brought on by Abner himself, my wife said, "That poor guy"--meaning Paul.Similarly, Lonzo Choat, a scuzzy son of a bitch who rents Abner's old property and resents Abner's return after escaping from the old folks' home, clearly is a low life. He beats his wife and daughter, lives off disability payments that he no longer deserves, is lazy and a drinker, and eventually hangs Abner's dog out of spite. Yet at least we get some understanding of him, and in the end, like it or not, he is forced to save Abner from the shack that he (Abner) has set afire.Abner is more than just a curmudgeon. Don't look here for a crusty old guy who really has a heart of gold. We learn just enough to know that he was mean to his wife and son, and increasingly Abner himself dreams of his dead wife in the act of forgiving him. We learn that his wife died after he left her behind in the house out of spite, because she was taking so much time choosing a dress.Yet Abner is hard to dislike in many ways. He is resourceful, proud, self-reliant. A complicated man.Hal Holbrook is wonderful in his portrayal of Abner. His performance, along with a very strong screenplay, has given us a really interesting and intelligent drama for adults.

FatMan-QaTFM 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!