A concept that has Robert Duvall contemplating a living funeral with Bill Murray as the ceremony’s overseer suggests a nice dosage of dark humor, but save for Murray’s predictable follies here and there, Get Low – cinematographer Aaron Schneider’s debut feature film – posits a more meditative experience than one of satirical proportions. Just imagining what the Coens could have produced with this material sort of spoils Schneider’s work, because by Duvall’s second or third vague rumination, you begin to wonder how those ingenious brothers would employ some of their wry comic relief to spice up the script. Sure, it’s nice to mull over the story’s many nuances, but the notion of “what could have been” remains taut throughout the bulk of Low. The performances are on point, the cinematography is stellar, but the meat of this stew is standard at best.
The year is 1938 and Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is introduced to us as an elderly hermit whose will to live is waning. Bush is the stuff of legend around town and his history is surrounded by wild allegations, most of which he has little interest in addressing. Instead, he decides to orchestrate his own funeral prior to actually dying in order to hear what his fellow townsfolk have to say about him. Without divulging his full intentions, Bush hires huckster funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) and his protege Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black) to promote the ceremony and attract a huge crowd for the roasting. The only problem with Bush’s “get out of jail funeral” is his reluctance to actually face the transgressions that have locked him away in solitude for the past forty years.
The redemption motif has been explored exhaustively in cinema, so to explore it further in uninspired detail without any quirks or deviations makes for a bore. Since Low guns for pensive drama opposed to cynical romp, I wanted to see a bit of revelatory progression, a shift from focusing on the funeral’s preparation – and every arbitrary story arc in between – to focusing more on the enigma that is Felix Bush.
There isn’t nearly enough runtime to split equally amongst the cast – especially with such a multifaceted character like Bush on the table – yet Schneider tries to make scant room for everyone, foiling the film’s pace and depriving Duvall of his rightful spotlight. But I suppose these flaws can be compensated by the cast’s magnetic chemistry; they’re all believable in their roles sans any melodramatic contrivances.
A tad forgettable, but pleasant enough to sit through at least once, Get Low provides a slew of interesting themes that are only lightly touched on. But with performances from seasoned pros like Duval and Murray, it’s hard to completely write off Schneider's first effort.
7/10
