GET LOW Movie Review
GET LOW tells the story of Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), a man who’s been living sequestered from everyone for years, who decides he wants to buy a funeral. Not any kind of funeral, his own. And here’s the best part, he wants to attend it. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to throw a funeral for a man that is feared by the town folks. With some many horrible rumors being told about Felix, it’s going to take more than an invitation for people to show up.
Funeral owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young apprentice, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black) take on the task of putting together said funeral and along the way discover there is more to Felix than meets the eye. Furthermore, it soon becomes clear that Felix has been holding on to a secret that he is finally ready to let go of. And as the funeral approaches, we meet two people from Felix’s past that might be related to that mystery, the widow Maddie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), the only person in town who ever got close to Felix, and the Illinois preacher Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs), who refuses to speak at his former friend’s funeral. Come the big day, will we finally found out what Felix has been holding on to all these years?
Get Low is a character study lead by a really powerful cast including Robert Duvall, who is magnificent in the role of Felix, especially in one of the last scenes of the film (you’ll know which one I’m talking about if you seen the movie). There is some much emotion and feelings put into this character that it’s hard not to be entranced by his performance. But that’s not all, we also get great performances by Bill Murray, who portrays his character on the lighter side, yet in a way that works in the film’s tone. Lucas Black is great as the young, naive apprentice, who tries to help Felix get the best funeral he can. There is something very innocent about his face that worked well to contrast Felix’s older, worn-out face. And finally, Sissy Spacek and Bill Cobbs both play smaller parts in Get Low, yet both significant in the overall story. And even with less on screen time, their performance are still very memorable. So you pretty much guessed it, if you are a fan of good performances, this is the movie to see.
As for the storyline, it’s definitely not very complex or original, yet it does the trick. We get to know Felix throughout the film, which leads us to us understanding him and the secret he has been holding all the years. As for the secret itself, we do find out what it is and while it’s not going to be mind blowing, I did find it very satisfying in the context of the film.
Overall, Get Low is an enjoyable film, with powerful performances and a really good character study. So if this is your thing, make sure you go see Get Low if it’s playing at a theater near you.
