GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

dabbott-119-716334 The acting is excellent as is the rest of the production elements. The plot is downright flabbergasting. It is as if Stephen Segal stepped in to save an old man from being humiliated by a bunch of rednecks and they beat up Segal and continue to humiliate the old guy for the rest of the hour and a half film.One could argue that this is the way life happens.One could say the same for snuff filmsA small plot change would have saved this filmBarry Corbin is always wonderful to watch.The film depressed me.

Roland E. Zwick Based on the short story "I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down" by William Gay, "That Evening Sun" presents us with an epic battle of wills between two equally immutable forces fighting over the same piece of land. The property in question is a rundown farm in rural Tennessee owned by Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrooke), an octogenarian who's just walked away from the retirement home his son (Walter Goggins) placed him in after a serious fall a few months back. When Abner gets back to his farm, he is stunned to find that - thanks to a deal brokered by his lawyer son – the place has been signed over to a white-trash, ne'er-do-well by the name of Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon), who now lives there with his wife (Carrie Preston) and sixteen-year-old daughter (Mia Wasikowska), with whom Abner establishes an uneasy but generally tender relationship.Scott Teem's screenplay is multi-faceted and complex in the way it develops its characters. For instance, many of the very same qualities that make Abner so appealing to the audience – his tenacity, his commitment to principle, his uncompromising willingness to call things as he sees them – are also what make him a hard person to deal with for those who are actually a part of his life. This is especially the case with his son, who though he obviously loves his father and wants to do right by him, harbors a lifelong resentment against the old man for his harsh treatment of both himself and his now-deceased mother while he was growing up.To a somewhat lesser extent, Lonzo is also portrayed in a three-dimensional light. Though he is an alcoholic, a wastrel, and a man prone to acts of violence against both animals and members of his own family, there is a sense that he is genuinely trying to get his life together by earning an honest living and finally being a decent provider for his loved ones. The movie really seems to understand the tragedy of old age – of feeling as if everything you ever called your own is now being taken away from you and nobody around you seems to care. In fact, many of those people – despite, in some cases, their possible good intentions - are proactively involved in bringing that outcome about. The movie also touches upon that root and highly American value of property ownership, and the willingness to stop at virtually nothing to ensure one's hold on one's land."That Evening Sun" is what is called in the trade an "actors' picture," and, indeed, it is the performances that are of primary interest here. Holbrooke has always been a tremendous actor, but here he is positively transcendent as Abner, a crusty old coot who is so much more than just a crusty old coot. Goggins, the brilliant star of "The Shield" and "Justified" and a co-producer of this film, is also excellent as Paul Meecham, a role quite different from the ones in the aforementioned works. And McKinnon, Preston ("True Blood"), and Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland," "The Kids are All Right") are all wonderful as well.The tone of the film is contemplative and muted, and Teems' direction is rich in atmosphere and setting.

bob-790-196018 Early in the film, when young Pamela Choat first tries being friendly to crusty old Abner Meecham, I said to my wife, "This better not end all warm and fuzzy." Well it didn't. It was a film of nuances and complexities. When we first meet Abner's lawyer son Paul, a hyper-busy lawyer who had "persuaded" Abner to go into the old folks' home, I said, "Why are lawyers always portrayed as bad guys?" But toward the end, as Paul finds himself dealing with yet another crisis in his dad's life, brought on by Abner himself, my wife said, "That poor guy"--meaning Paul.Similarly, Lonzo Choat, a scuzzy son of a bitch who rents Abner's old property and resents Abner's return after escaping from the old folks' home, clearly is a low life. He beats his wife and daughter, lives off disability payments that he no longer deserves, is lazy and a drinker, and eventually hangs Abner's dog out of spite. Yet at least we get some understanding of him, and in the end, like it or not, he is forced to save Abner from the shack that he (Abner) has set afire.Abner is more than just a curmudgeon. Don't look here for a crusty old guy who really has a heart of gold. We learn just enough to know that he was mean to his wife and son, and increasingly Abner himself dreams of his dead wife in the act of forgiving him. We learn that his wife died after he left her behind in the house out of spite, because she was taking so much time choosing a dress.Yet Abner is hard to dislike in many ways. He is resourceful, proud, self-reliant. A complicated man.Hal Holbrook is wonderful in his portrayal of Abner. His performance, along with a very strong screenplay, has given us a really interesting and intelligent drama for adults.

j-lacerra That Evening Sun begins as many geezer-escapes-from-nursing-home movies, with 80-year old Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) packing his bag and heading back to his old farm. Once there, he finds that his lawyer son has rented the place, inevitably, to a family he loathes and holds in low regard, the Choats. Even though the Choats have legal right to be there (a valid lease), Abner tries to run them off, and, failing that, he stays on in a worker's shack on the property to harass them. He does sort of befriend the teen Choat daughter, and actually saves her and her mother from a beating with a garden hose by papa Choat.Holbrook is good, as always, but Abner is a nasty old cuss who seems to thrive on being mean. In the course of the movie, we learn that not only is Abner not entirely a good guy, but Choat is not entirely a bad guy.The problems here are several: Abner is relentlessly mean and we cannot grow to like him, his scenes with teen Pamela Choat are few and brief and the relationship goes nowhere, Dixie Carter's appearances in flashbacks as Abner's dead wife afford her no lines, and Abner's employing a noisy dog to irritate Choat must end in the animals death. For some reason, viewers are more outraged by the death of a dog than by that of humans, and this scene is played directly to that idiosyncrasy.The 'story' ends with Abner no better off than at the start, the Choats no better off - in other words it was all for naught. No resolution, no real story, irritating characters, missed opportunities, very bad ending. One to miss.