Keeping it Premium

I know the 'Mao's Last Dancer' producers spent a great deal of money getting the best person available to make their trailer. Its a good investment but I am not sure what I would have done to change the trailer for 'Get Low'. Suffice to say that I did not want to see the movie. Looking back on it, I am not sure what they COULD have done but once I got there, all was well.

It was one of those times when two people don't have a film in common to see and I went with a suggestion. What I found was a gracious and sensitive film about a painful tragedy playing its poisonous legacy out through a lifetime.

I have to say that I was taken aback by Duvall. His sensitive performance of a real life character 'Felix Bush' is enhanced by the careful direction of Aaron Schneider in his first full length feature film. There are unending ways in which this film could have wandered off track but Schneider keeps his seasoned cast well in line - not always an easy job for anyone.

Bill Cobbs - a riveting addition to the cast, is a theatrical actor whose face and character lend gravitas to this production. Bruce Beresford once told me they used to get Morgan Freeman to mend things on the set of 'Driving Miss Daisy' as he had spent so many years augmenting his income being an odd job man. So has Cobbs but it must do something to the psyche. I loved seeing a new older black actor pulling such weight in a good film.

If you are interested in how plots are drawn in to a conclusion - see this film. Just when you think 'and NOW what?' they do it. With the same sparse elegance they use throughout the movie.