(2010) A taciturn old man, haunted by fiery dreams of a house in flames, living like a hermit - "No Damn Trespassing: Beware of Mule" - for the past 40 years, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) decides after hearing of Wiley Stark's funeral to arrange for his own, though he says to his mule Gracie: "I always thought you'd go first."

Into town in his wagon he gets into a fight (provoked by a younger man) before he "gets low" (down to business) inside Rev Gus Horton's church by asking about a eulogy for a funeral, but he's put off by the clergyman's inquiry: "Have you made peace with God, sir?" Overhearing the brief conversation, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), accompanied by his wife Katie with their infant, reports a possible client with a ball of money to his boss, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) of the Quinn Funeral Home.

"What are the odds of a funeral home going broke?" asks Frank, perplexed by not enough people dying in the Tennessee town. Explaining to his assistant that a salesman can't become a good salesman unless he knows he can sell, Frank sends Buddy to Bush's doorstep, where the young man nearly gets shot.

I was expecting a comedy from the previews, not a dark drama of shame and a desire for redemption during the Depression with deft touches of humor, directed by Aaron Schneider, based on a true story (screenplay Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell). A local legend about whom many stories have been imagined and gossiped, Bush explains to Frank and Buddy his idea for a funeral party with people invited to tell their stories about him: "And I wanna be there" alive.

Surprised to see long-bearded Bush in town after all these years of absence, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), recently widowed and returned from St Louis, whom Felix had courted, says to Katie: "There's still nobody like him." But when she pays Felix a visit and accepts an invitation for supper, she abruptly leaves (there's no getting over some things) upon noticing a photograph of her sister Mary Lee.

Uncomfortable with the building carnival atmosphere ("Buy a ticket … tell a story") for Bush's funeral - Felix announces on radio a lottery for a chance to win his property when he does die - Buddy drives the former recluse in the hearse up to see Rev Charlie Johnson (Bill Cobb) in Illinois. A carpenter by trade, Felix had built a magnificent church for the black minister before he'd gone into self-imposed exile for something he asks Charlie to preach about at the funeral.

But when Bush declines to answer whether he'd confessed or asked forgiveness - "Did you tell her, Felix?" - Rev Johnson refuses the request. Back in town, Bush calls off the funeral party, putting Frank into a panic over his business going bankrupt. The wad of money Bush had left with Frank, along with the many five-dollar purchases of tickets for the drawing, hidden inside a casket, goes missing when Frank also disappears without telling Buddy.

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Copyright © 2011 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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