Robert Duvall

With the bushy, hillbilly beard and gnarly attitude that Robert Duvall dons in “Get Low,” you might think he were a kissing cousin to ZZ Top, or at least a lesser member of the Soggy Bottom Boys from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

His Felix Bush is, as they say in rural parts, a real piece of work. A Depression-era hermit who lives alone in a ramshackle, backwoods house not far from a small Tennessee hamlet, Felix chose long ago to keep civilization – and his neighbors – at bay.

The sign at his front gate reads: “No damn trespassing. Beware of mule.”

Surrounded by his mule, his trusty shotgun, a stock of mason jars filled with home-brewed herbal elixir and a faded photograph of a long lost love, Felix has lived a stubbornly monastic life that gradually achieved mythic proportions among the folks in town. There grew up such a thorny rash of wild rumors attributing black magic and evil deeds to this cantankerous old coot that Felix is now viewed by most townspeople with suspicion and dread. Which is mostly fine with Felix.

Until one day when he receives news of an old acquaintance’s death – delivered by a fearful preacher man (Gerald McRaney). This troubles Felix and sets him to thinking about settling up affairs, and so he gathers a wad of “hermit money” and heads into town with an idea.

Bill Murray

Felix’s idea, which he puts to Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), the city-slicker owner of the town funeral parlor, is to stage his own funeral while he’s still around to partake in the festivities. Frank, always quick to make a buck, takes on the job and assigns his earnest young assistant Buddy (Lucas Black) to chauffeur Felix around and plan details of the event (which includes raffling off a tract of Felix’s land to attract a suitable number of mourners).

As word gets out and Felix comes back into the life of the town, he renews acquaintance with Mattie (Sissy Spacek), a quietly seething old flame. He also makes contact with an itinerate, unforgiving Illinois preacher (a wonderfully funereal Bill Cobbs), who knows a deep, dark secret from Felix’s past for which the old man now seeks atonement.

Roughly based on the true tale of an East Tennessee farmer named Felix Breazeale of the 1930s who staged his own funeral before he died, the screenplay by Chris Provenzano (“Mad Men”) and C. Gaby Mitchell (“Blood Diamond”) is touched with more than a little folksy cornpone. The set-up is too obvious, and it’s easy to figure out Felix’s long-buried tragedy and to see where it all will lead.

But first-time director Aaron Schneider has the wisdom to trust his marvelous cast and to give each actor room to do little character jigs to maximum effect. For Duvall, 80, this role fits like a well-worn pair of bib overalls. As a writer-director himself in 1997’s far more ambitious “The Apostle” (not to mention his turn as Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mockingbird”), Duvall has done his homework on Southern culture and folklore. And it shows here in the ease and vinegary authenticity he brings to his performance.

Murray as the huckster with a heart simply proves that in the right role he’s one of the best character actors around. Black, Spacek and Cobbs deliver performances that are rich in emotional grace notes and honest humanity. This film could serve as an acting master class.

Filled as it is with homespun wisdom, prickly wit, a little weepy poignancy and masterly performances, “Get Low” achieves the feeling of an ageless, autumnal fable. After all, who wouldn’t want a funeral marked by a touching epiphany and the chance to be there to enjoy it?

- Dennis King

“Get Low”

PG-13
1:40
3 stars
Starring: Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, Bill Cobbs
(Some thematic material and brief, violent content)

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