There’s a new movie about East Tennessee with an Oscar-winning cast that is getting great reviews.
“Sony Pictures Classics has debuted a second brand new trailer for ‘Get Low’ starring Robert Duvall and Bill Murray as well as Lucas Black, Sissy Spacek and Bill Cobbs,” reviewer Alex Billington wrote on firstshowing.net. “ ‘Get Low’ was one of my top favorites at the Toronto Film Festival last year and is just a damn fine film. It's one of those summer indies that I strongly suggest making an effort to see, it'll be a gem you won't have to later regret missing. I think Duvall may even get an Oscar nom, or at least that's what Sony Classics wants. Enjoy!”
If you live in one of the very few cities where the powers-that-be have decided to show the film, that is.
Your chances of seeing it in any theater in or near Chattanooga are slim to none because Sony Pictures Classics has decided it is worthy of only limited distribution. That means it’s opening today – but just in New York and Los Angeles.
Why? Beats me.
“Get Low” is set in Loudon, TN during the Great Depression, when a cantankerous 73-year-old recluse named Felix “Uncle Bush” Breazeale – the town’s bogeyman – decided to throw himself a funeral.
While he was still alive, so he could enjoy it.
He broached the idea to funeral home owner Frank Quinn, who was having a slow summer – not many people were dying, his great granddaughter explained in an interview with ELCA News Service – and saw a business opportunity.
The wily funeral director rounded up a preacher willing to officiate at the unorthodox event, and then began advertising. Newspapers picked up the story, partly because Felix Breazeale had once been charged with murder, and people started jumping on the bandwagon.
On June 16, 1938, the day of the funeral, thousands attended. There was a carnival atmosphere worthy of another East Tennessee history-maker: the Scopes trial. Florists donated flowers. Vendors were on hand hawking hot dogs.
The honoree – dressed in a suit donated by a local clothing store -- rode in the passenger seat of the hearse; the back of the vehicle contained a walnut coffin he had made himself.
In the movie, Robert Duvall plays Felix Breazeale. Bill Murray is the quick-witted funeral director, and Sissy Spacek a long-lost love.
All of them, according to reviewers, give performances well worth watching – none of which movie-goers in Chattanooga or the rest of East Tennessee, or even in Georgia where the movie was shot, are likely to get to enjoy.