Duvall and Murray ‘Get Low’

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There is always something intriguing about a hermit, someone who has all but fled society, someone who lives off the land and off grid and loves it. Today there is an entire movement of the environmentally conscious wealthy to go completely green with their homes and forgo using public utilities of any kind. Estimates from 2006 indicate roughly 180,000 U.S. families live off the grid.

Last year, a quiet period drama with a rap-friendly name, Get Low, told the based-on-a-true story drama of a different kind of hermit. The film is available now on DVD. Felix “Bush” Breazeale lived a mountain man’s existence in the 1930s, shut off from the rest of civilization in eastern Tennessee and showing his face in public only occasionally—mostly, legend has it, to scare the daylights out of the town folk who regarded him less of a man and more like a wild specter of mystery. After years of being feared by locals, Breazeale decided to invite everyone in the surrounding counties to share stories about him at his own pre-death funeral party.

Similarly in Get Low, star Robert Duvall begins to contemplate his own demise after being told of the death of a friend, and, like the real Breazeale, he approaches a local funeral director named Frank Quinn, played by a dry but still wisecracking Bill Murray, to help organize the bizarre event.

Oscar winner Aaron Schneider, whose Two Soldiers took home the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 2003, makes his feature film debut in stunning fashion. Bravely reserved and as quiet as a country road, the film is deliberately paced (read: slow), yet the mood evoked works to Schneider’s advantage, especially in certain scenes that linger on the faces of Duvall or Murray, two veteran actors who can say more with the lift of an eyebrow or curl of the lips than many can spout out in monologue.

That’s not to say Get Low couldn’t use a kick here and there. Murray’s deadpanning is perfect, but there is little narrative weight pulling audiences through this story save for the promise of hearing some type of revelation from Breazeale at his own funeral and visitors sharing their own stories like a wicked roast. Breazeale’s revelation is indeed heartbreaking, and for him, of course, it is life-altering. And when he speaks to the crowd, Get Low becomes less about an old hermit and more about the what the weight of guilt can do to a man. Breazeale’s was a life misunderstood, and when he wanted a funeral party for his own recompense, he got it. Unfortunately, Schneider fails to deliver any great stories from anyone else other than Breazeale, and this funeral party feels more like a stump speech and apology than a celebration.

The less-than-thrilling conclusion keeps Get Low from being a well-rounded film, but it remains a wholly convincing period piece and a fascinating character study and showcase for the venerable talents of the one and only Duvall.