DVD - That Evening Sun

There is a genre I have grown to love. I wouldn't quite call it Southern Gothic, but definitely Southern... something. It usually takes place in the back woods, usually during the stereotypically hot summer sun, and involves very back woods kind of folk. That Evening Sun, the debut feature by Scott Teems, fits nicely into it, and is one of my favorites of the genre.

Sun concerns Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook), an elderly man taken from his land, by his son, and put in a nursing home. When Meecham escapes the nursing home, he heads back down to his farm to find it leased out to Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) and his family. Meecham despises Lonzo, probably even more than he despises Lonzo's father. He refuses to leave, and, eventually takes residence in the sharecroppers cabin down from the main house. Meecham won't let up, and neither will Lonzo, and, eventually, the slight jabs turn into bigger hits, then into violent reactions.

That Evening Sun is one of Holbrook's best. Barry Corbin, who plays Meecham's friend, is also great, even though he doesn't get a lot of screen time. McKinnon is seething as Lonzo, and you have to wonder where he's pulling that intense rage from, because it's extremely believable. Teems does a great job at using the environment and world of the old south to create a brooding, sweaty, dirty film.