Susan Granger’s review of “That Evening Sun” (Dogwood Entertainment)
84 year-old Hal Holbrook – Oscar-nominated for “Into the Wild” and known throughout the country for his stage performances as Mark Twain – stars in this Southern Gothic tale of a Tennessee farmer who flees from a rural nursing home, only to discover that another family has taken up residence in his house in a village called Ackerman’s Field.
Widower Abner Meecham (Holbrook) has always been surly, stubborn and spiteful. When he breaks his hip, his son Paul (Walton Goggins of “The Shield”) dumps him in a residence for the elderly, where his body heals but his spirit is dying. So Abner sneaks off, only to discover that he no longer has anywhere to live. His son, a stressed-out trial lawyer, has leased the family farm to Lonzo Choat (Raymond McKinnon), a “white trash” slacker who has moved in with his wife and 16 year-old daughter, leaving frustrated Abner no choice but to sleep in the dilapidated sharecropper’s shack, where his belongings have been stored. Eager to annoy Lonzo, Abner then adopts a stray dog that barks incessantly. Tension and hostilities abound, particularly after contemptuous, condescending Abner catches drunk Lonzo wielding a rubber garden hose like a bullwhip, beating his long-suffering wife, Ludie (Carrie Preston), and defiant daughter, Pamela (Mia Wasikowska), and reports the attack to the local sheriff.
Adapting a short story, “I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down,” by writer William Gay, writer/director Scott Teems creates what is, essentially, a leisurely, multi-dimensional, three-generational character-study that somewhat resembles the geezer that Clint Eastwood played in “Gran Torino.” Giving one of the best performances of his career, veteran actor Hal Holbrook gracefully epitomizes the cantankerous curmudgeon, clinging to memories with his real-life wife, Dixie Carter, as the farmer’s wife in wordless, dream-like flashbacks. Not your ordinary villain, Ray McKinnon’s opportunistic antagonist wallows in dangerous, deep-seated anguish. And Barry Corbin is impressive as Thurl, Abner’s kindly, commiserating neighbor.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “That Evening Sun” is a defiantly compelling yet subtle 7, a richly complex human drama.
