That Evening Sun

An aging Tennessee farmer returns to his homestead and must confront a family betrayal, the reappearance of an old enemy, and the loss of his farm. This is the perfect example of how to write an old bull can against the young bull one. Holebrook's character doesn't want trouble, just his pride and the right to go on living the way he once did. He doesn't have much left, but pride. The movie does a great job of making us care for Holebrook, something that was hard to pull off consistently. Hal Holebrook is magnificent, and Oscar worthy here in his portrayal of Abner Meecham. It was hard to pull off, but Holebrook manages to maintain likability along with his grouchy, potentially off-putting role. There's never a moment where we don't sympathize with him, even when he pushes the limits, we manage to emphasize with his actions. I've not seen Holebrook perform a better role than this one. Ray McKinnon is excellent as the hot-shot antagonist, wanting to take over the farm. You'll hate him, and possibly even understand his actions in some cases. Walter Goggins is very good as the ungrateful son of Holebrook's, he did well. Bottom line. The Sundance Film Festival struck gold with this one, and you will too. A must see 9 ½ 10

Early in the film, when young Pamela Choat first tries being friendly to crusty old Abner Meecham, I said to my wife, "This better not end all warm and fuzzy." Well it didn't. It was a film of nuances and complexities. When we first meet Abner's lawyer son Paul, a hyper-busy lawyer who had "persuaded" Abner to go into the old folks' home, I said, "Why are lawyers always portrayed as bad guys?" But toward the end, as Paul finds himself dealing with yet another crisis in his dad's life, brought on by Abner himself, my wife said, "That poor guy"--meaning Paul. Similarly, Lonzo Choat, a scuzzy son of a bitch who rents Abner's old property and resents Abner's return after escaping from the old folks' home, clearly is a low life. He beats his wife and daughter, lives off disability payments that he no longer deserves, is lazy and a drinker, and eventually hangs Abner's dog out of spite. Yet at least we get some understanding of him, and in the end, like it or not, he is forced to save Abner from the shack that he (Abner) has set afire. Abner is more than just a curmudgeon. Don't look here for a crusty old guy who really has a heart of gold. We learn just enough to know that he was mean to his wife and son, and increasingly Abner himself dreams of his dead wife in the act of forgiving him. We learn that his wife died after he left her behind in the house out of spite, because she was taking so much time choosing a dress. Yet Abner is hard to dislike in many ways. He is resourceful, proud, self-reliant. A complicated man. Hal Holbrook is wonderful in his portrayal of Abner. His performance, along with a very strong screenplay, has given us a really interesting and intelligent drama for adults.

Nice movie, the old man is a likable character, still is a 'not very nice' person. It seems he was not really nice to his family either. The name of the guy he is trying to throw away from his home is Choat, kind of reminds me of the word "Tchort" that means Devil in Slavic languages: "Tchort is a Slavonic word (Russian Чёрт, Czech and Slovak Čert, Ukrainian and Belarusian Чорт) meaning Devil" Source:wikipedia Made me wonder if its allegoric and the man was trying to overcome and win his demons instead. Imagine the home being empty and not finding the courage to go inside, that overflowning home of memories of his wife... Finally he overcame his guilts and found peace. Just another point of view, food for thought ;)

Scott Teems wrote and directed this touching movie called " That Evening Sun. " It's tells the story of an aging Tennessee farmer, Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) who was accidentally injured at home and put into a convalescent home. Unfortunately for him, Abner awoke to learn his son Paul (Walton Groggins) had committed him to this home for the duration of his life. Refusing to stay, he returns to his farm where Meecham discovers his family farm has been leased out to an old adversary Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) who tries to drive him off the disputed farm. Because of the law, the two now face an unresolved issue which is complicated by the alcoholic owner and his frightened family. The story is dramatically poignant and with the characters including the dog, bonding closely, becomes sentimentally lasting. Barry Corbin plays next door neighbor Thurl Chessor and becomes a credit to the overall story. ***

That Evening Sun begins as many geezer-escapes-from-nursing-home movies, with 80-year old Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) packing his bag and heading back to his old farm. Once there, he finds that his lawyer son has rented the place, inevitably, to a family he loathes and holds in low regard, the Choats. Even though the Choats have legal right to be there (a valid lease), Abner tries to run them off, and, failing that, he stays on in a worker's shack on the property to harass them. He does sort of befriend the teen Choat daughter, and actually saves her and her mother from a beating with a garden hose by papa Choat. Holbrook is good, as always, but Abner is a nasty old cuss who seems to thrive on being mean. In the course of the movie, we learn that not only is Abner not entirely a good guy, but Choat is not entirely a bad guy. The problems here are several: Abner is relentlessly mean and we cannot grow to like him, his scenes with teen Pamela Choat are few and brief and the relationship goes nowhere, Dixie Carter's appearances in flashbacks as Abner's dead wife afford her no lines, and Abner's employing a noisy dog to irritate Choat must end in the animals death. For some reason, viewers are more outraged by the death of a dog than by that of humans, and this scene is played directly to that idiosyncrasy. The 'story' ends with Abner no better off than at the start, the Choats no better off - in other words it was all for naught. No resolution, no real story, irritating characters, missed opportunities, very bad ending. One to miss.

This movie came from nowhere for me here in Australa. Its a little middle-American indie film that I had never heard of until I saw it advertised on my upcoming orders list. I just finished watching it and it is a fantastic character study. It stars Hal Holbrook in one of the finest performances in his long and successful career. He plays an old man who walks out of his nursing-home and returns to the farm he owned for over 50 years only to find it occupied by new tenants. Being stubborn he squats in the old worker's quarters and wages a personal war against the new family. From there the film becomes a real examination of this old man's mind. He is at the narrow end of life and has nothing to show for it. Everything he knew was taken away and he is doomed to live the rest of his life with regret about many things in his life. Unbeknownst to him, much of his traits are reflected in his newly appointed enemy. Its a slow drama with moments of tension. The performances are exceptional and the relationship he has with his old neighbour is wonderful (some of the best scenes). Well worth a look.

I've been looking forward to "That Evening Sun" for a while now, and not just because it was shot in the county and surrounding towns where I live here in Tennessee. My anticipation was largely because of Hal Holbrook, an iconic performer I have seen in his one-man "Mark Twain Tonight!" stage show, and who appears in occasional guest shots on TV where things must move very fast, and less often in film, where things are allowed to proceed at a more measured pace. I was not disappointed, the character study of Abner Meechum, the refugee from an old folks' home and renegade on his own property is rich, complex, and satisfying throughout. Admittedly it may not be a big stretch for Holbrook to play a cranky 80-year-old, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the performance at all. Surrounding him is a cast of surprisingly strong players: the antagonist Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) is an especially worthy and believable opponent, and supporting cast Pamela and Ludie Choat (Mia Wasikowska and Carrie Preston) likewise hit just the right notes, tugging this farm county family drama at precisely the right pace. I especially enjoyed Barry Corkin, perfect in the Wilfred Brimley-esquire good neighbor role, and a special mention for the cameo by Dixie Carter, Hal Holbrook's wife in the movie as well as in real life. Where I saw the film, at a packed 1pm matinée, the audience laughed at several of the moments, self-reflective as they were of Tennessee rural life. I don't know that they would garner that kind of introspective appreciation in other parts of the country, but here, people know their country folk and can laugh with, rather than at them. "That Evening Sun" is a simple yarn: Abner tires of life in a retirement home and returns to the farm he and his deceased wife occupied for most of their lives, only to find it occupied by a neer-do-well, but one with a property lease Abner's "guardian son" has approved. The story is more than the tug-of-war between owner and lessor, it is between hard-working- older and layabout younger, and between lives at noon and the sundown that inevitably follows. Taken from William Gay's short stories of Southern life, "I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down," it's the unraveling of a proud man in the twilight, as his own sun is setting, and his fight with the oncoming night. Hal Holbrook is a treasure. So is this film. It's Indie with a capital "I", an armful of festival awards, and, one hopes, a long run ahead.

I had the privilege of seeing That Evening Sun last night at the Atlanta Film Festival. Scott Teems, Terrence Berry, Laura Smith, Ray McKinnon, Walton Goggins, and Larsen Jay were all in attendance and conducted an excellent Q&A afterwords. There's so much to this film, so I'll start with the acting and go from there. The movie was so perfectly cast, from Hal Holbrook to Ray McKinnon all the way down to Barlow Jacobs the cab driver - they all were so authentic and believable. There was a lot of very good dialog, but I felt in the moments of quiet grief, contemplation, and observation there was so much more said about the characters. The story itself was very simple - it had no effect on the world outside of the few characters involved - but again it made the whole situation believable and really struck home with a lot of audience members. The movie is very smart - it doesn't hit you over the head with actors stating "I feel remorse, I feel sad, I feel angry." You get to watch their actions in the present reveal their character and past. Location was perfectly southern, shot just outside of Knoxville on an old farm, complete with the tenant house seen (although the Q&A explained the actual tenant house was disassembled and rebuilt closer to the main house). There is something about truly southern movies that have a feel like no other with a landscape and sound you can't find in Canada, New Zealand, or LA. The music, done by Michael Penn and the Drive-By Truckers, completed the whole picture with a quiet southern flavor. Scott Teems explained in the Q&A that he wanted a lot of quiet time for the audience to absorb the story and the location. The music was present, but didn't drive scenes. All in all, this is one of the best independent films I've seen in recent years, and is instantly one of my favorite films of all time. Please go see this film, you will not regret the time spent!

Grumpy old man Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) walks away from his retirement living. He returns to his Tennesse farm after 3 months to find Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) occupying it. His son Paul (Walton Goggins) had rented it with an option to sell. Abner is unwilling to leave and starts living in the adjacent slave cabin. Lonzo is a drunk. He beats his daughter Pamela (Mia Wasikowska) and wife Ludie (Carrie Preston) after Pamela comes home with a boy. Thurl Chessor (Barry Corbin) is a neighbor. These are great performances of compelling characters. Holbrook shows a terrifically pained bitter person. Everybody delivers in this. There is quiet tension throughout.

The film is brilliant and a must see as other reviewers have already mentioned. The acting is masterclass and together with the brilliantly written dialogue paints the characters and their interactions in the fewest strokes possible. No wasted dialogues that bring nothing new to the story. I will not waste time mentioning how good Hal Holbrook is in the movie since every other reviewer has already done that. Instead I have to mention Ray McKinnon's performance as the troubled self-destructive alcoholic who s struggling to straighten himself out for the sake of his family. His portrayal both scares for being the dormant maniac that is at the edge of being unleashed at every stage and at the same time saddens for him being unable to reform himself due to a lot of external factors - him being unable to find a steady income , an old dude trying to snatch his family's home from him, his daughter dating a guy's son whom he detests for supposedly having stolen his grandfather's watch. The low lit sequences of him sitting in front of the television knee deep in self loathing and the weight of past regrets hanging over him is both scary and sad at the same time. At one point he tells his wife "People just can't understand that a guy can change". Ray McKinnon's Lonzo Choat is unforgettable. The only issue I had with the movie was with its messy third act. I mean I can understand the story treading a little offbeat path in its final stage to bring about a certain sense of realism and a non- cliché end. But it was too off putting for me. It was abrupt and doesn't give a sense of closure. I had already invested so much time in the Choat family and was at least hoping to see where things go for them. But the movie just completely disregards their plight at the end showing us nothing of them whatsoever. My heart was yearning to know what happens to them afterwards. But still a definite masterpiece with some brilliant shots and outstanding character studies. I'll definitely watch this a second time.