That Evening Sun

Scott Teems

United States

Synopsis

An aging Tennessee farmer returns to his homestead and must confront a family betrayal, the reappearance of an enemy, and the loss of his farm.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with "That Evening Sun" producer Larsen Jay and director Scott Teems.

REVIEW

Character actor Hal Holbrook, who has played everyone from Mark Twain to "All the President's Men"'s Deep Throat, offers a flinty, full-bodied interpretation of Abner Meechum, a beyond-pissed-off curmudgeon who bolts from the rest home where he was planted by his lawyer son (Walton Goggins) and heads back to reclaim his Tennessee farm. But Abner's son has already rented his dad's spread to Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon), a white-trash ne'er-do-well who has an option to buy the place after three months. Lonzo's abused spouse Ludie (Carrie Preston) and budding teen daughter Pamela (Mia Wasikowska) are hoping that troubled boozer Lonzo can get a new start in life, but it doesn't help that Abner, hunkered down in the sharecroppers' shanty on the property, has no intention of moving out.

Working from a William Gay short story, writer-director Scott Teems offers a widescreen canvas filled with telling details, from the boarded-up storefronts that line the streets of Abner's once-thriving small town to the deliberately fractured flashback structure in which Abner recalls the dim memories of his relationship with his deceased spouse (played by "Designing Women"'s Dixie Carter, Holbrook's real-life leading lady). Teems also scores textured performances from his spot-on cast, especially McKinnon's simmering menace as Lonzo ("Bein' old and crazy gets you a li'l extra rope," he warns Abner. "Best not hang yourself with it.") and some neat support from "Northern Exposure"'s Barry Corbin--barely recognizable here except for the timbre in his voice--as Abner's neighbor pal. And Holbrook presents a master-class acting seminar on how to dig deep down into a characterization, aided by some of the tangiest dialogue in many a movie moon. "The road ahead ain't long and it ain't winding," Holbrook's Abner remarks, knowing time isn't on his side. "It's short and straight as a goddamned poisoned arrow."

-Bill DeLapp