That Evening Sun

That Evening Sun is a rare example of a film that captures the true essence of the South.

Feeling trapped in his retirement home, Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) flies the crumbling coop to return home to his farm only to find a family of three has moved in. Abner quickly learns he has been “betrayed” by his lawyer son Paul (Walter Goggins), who signed the lease over to old family enemy Alonso Choat (Ray McKinnon), an out-of-work drinker collecting insurance checks and trying to turn his family’s fate around with their new home.

Too stubborn to leave what is “rightfully his” and return to wilt away with his peers, Abner resides in the property’s sharecropper shack, which he protects with his old handgun and newly acquired noisy guard dog, Nipper. Amidst his squatting, he interacts with Choat’s frightened but faithful wife Ludie (Carrie Preston) and develops a friendship of sorts with her restless daughter Pamela (Mia Wasikowska), all while witnessing an unnerving family dynamic on the brink of collapse.

Writer-director Scott Teems is particular with the film’s pacing, often employing still landscape panoramas of the Tennessee backdrop. His camera movement parallels the pace at which Abner lives, only breaking the style during nightmarish dream sequences involving Abner’s dead wife. Teems successfully creates an ominous simmering to the story’s admittedly slow narrative, making the extremely violent acts that boil out of the characters even more dark and powerful.

As the narrative builds, the meaner side of Meecham emerges, as does the agonizing regret he feels for his past. Holbrook is the film’s shining prize, alternately making the audience laugh and empathize. Holbrook is perfectly perseverant, forever scowling as he witnesses the new generation’s values deteriorate.

Hypnotic and atmospheric, That Evening Sun is a resonating look at aging in America.