Scott Teems's faux Faulkner melodrama scores for cinematography but falls short in originality and character development. Abner Meecham (Hal Holbrook) escapes from the rest home where his son has stashed him to return to the old homestead. There he finds the place rented out to white trash Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon) and his wife and daughter, whom Lonzo beats when he's loaded, which is all the time. Abner camps out in the old tenant shack on his property, and this reversal of roles is as subtle as the film gets on the class issue. Although Holbrook makes the most of the role and the film doesn't take the easy way out in its ending, That EveningSun illuminates only the familiar ground of every other movie made on this subject.
SOMERVILLE THEATRE: APRIL 23 at 7:15 PM [WITH DIRECTOR SCOTT TEEMS] + APRIL 26 at 3 PM [WITH TEEMS AND ACTORS HAL HOLBROOK AND BARRY CORBIN]
