The Old Man & The Gun

First Hit: Once again Robert Redford shows why he’s one of the best in this, his swan song.

In 1994 I was standing at the United Airline's counter verifying my seat assignment. To my left was the First-Class counter and there was a gentleman standing there being served. We both left our respective customer service agents at the same time and ended up walking down the concourse together. I looked over at him and said, “where are you headed?” He smiled and said “Salt Lake City, you?” “Same” I said.

I mentioned that I was doing some work for the State of Utah and that I loved the beauty of the state. “Yeah, he said, it’s beautiful county.”

We continued walking towards our plane, but I couldn’t help but notice most of the people walking towards us were smiling and pointing at us. It was mostly women that were doing the pointing and nudging, with smiles on their faces, the person they were walking with.

I looked over at him and he looked back smiling when I said, “they must be looking at you, because I’ve never been looked at while walking in an airport." Then, as the smile creeped across his face, I said, “oh my, my mother is going to really be excited when I tell her I walked down the airport concourse with Robert Redford.” He laughed and said, “I get that a lot.”

Despite his outstanding performances as an actor, he’s never won an Oscar for acting and was nominated once for The Sting. I can tell you, that his performance as The Man in All Is Lost, is beyond amazing. He’s the only actor and the whole film is shot on a sailboat that is in distress. If you’ve never seen it, do so to watch this enigma of a man show you how to capture the whole screen all the time.

In The Old Man & The Gun, it’s been reported that this is his last film as an actor. And, as Forrest Tucker, Redford moved through this story like silk. As a lifetime bank robber he knows no other life. He’s been caught 16 previous times and escaped prison each time only to go back to the only profession that makes him happy.

We watch him rob banks by himself and with two partners, Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller (Tom Waits). Hoping to catch the “Over the Hill Gang,” as the newspapers call them, is Police Detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck).

When Forrest robs a bank, he’s kind, thoughtful, and only shows the gun to the manager or teller. He waltzes in and out, no muss no fuss. He's a gentleman at all things.

During the initial robbery, he stops during his getaway to help Jewel (Sissy Spacek) who is stranded because her truck is stranded. What the audience knows it is also a away to take the heat off himself because the cops who are chasing him—drive right past.

He likes Jewel and they began to see each other and this story line provides the film much needed grounding.

Redford as Tucker is wonderful. He fits the enigmatic way Forrest goes through his life and I can see why Redford was attracted to this character. Spacek is fantastic. She’s so grounded and fully meets Redford’s character with grace. Affleck was strong as the determined detective that also has a heart to understand Tucker. Glover and Waits were great in their small but pivotal roles. Tika Sumpter as Affleck’s wife, Maureen, was sublime. I loved how she supported Hunt. David Lowery wrote and directed a wonderful story giving Redford a wonderful platform to say goodbye.

Overall: This was a joyous romp through Forrest Tucker’s life as a robber.

A Ghost Story

First Hit:  Long languished scenes and little dialogue lead to waiting, just like the ghost.

Do not expect to be led into and through this film. The audience must work and carefully watch this film to be able to understand it and I use "understand" very loosely. The basis of this film is to explore love, loss and existence beyond the physical realm.

C (Casey Affleck) and M (Rooney Mara) are talking about moving from this simple home in suburban America. Then, as they sleep, they hear a bang on the piano in the living room. They explore and find nothing.

C is killed near the home in an automobile accident. M goes to the hospital looks at C lying on the table and pull the sheet up over his head. In what seems like an eternity, after she has left the morgue, the camera focuses on the body lying on the gurney. Then C sits up and gets off the gurney with the sheet over his entire body. When faced with a opening in a wall to walk into the light, the ghost C, turns left and walks down the hall.

Walking in his home, C stands there and watches M live her life, alone, and sad. There is a scene where a neighbor brings a pie over to M’s house and leaves it on the table. M comes home and ends up sitting on the floor of the kitchen, back against the sink cabinet and practically eats the entire pie, runs to the bathroom and throws up. This is a very telling and powerful scene.

The minimal dialogue adds to both the intrigue and patience forcing. At one point M moves away from the home and C is left there alone. He tries to get a small note M has stuffed into the door jamb but because he’s a ghost, he can barely make a more on the door jamb’s paint. Wandering into the bedroom, C looks across at another house and sees another ghost wearing a patterned sheet. They wave and communicate by telepathy, the words appearing as sub-titles on the bottom of the screen. Other people come and go living in the house while he’s still present.

They the film shifts time and takes us both into the future of the land where his home stands and the goes into past of the same land. The ghost simply stands on the property in these time shifts.

Eventually hes witnesses and watches when he and M come to live in the house for the first time. Here is where we see the first smiles from both C and M. It was a reflection of their happier times together. The rest of the film is about re-seeing the beginning of the story again but from a different view.

Affleck is difficult to review because he spends 97% of the film under the sheet. I can imagine that it wasn’t an easy part to fulfill, but it does work. Mara is, as always, an enigma. She is fantastic at being haunting and creating the sense that you want to know what is going on inside of her. She gives few signals but they are the right signals. David Lowery both wrote and directed this effort. I sense he has a lot to share about the flow of life, life after death, and evolution of life and this was a reasonable effort at sharing these ideas.

Overall:  If you go see this film, be patient and you may end up learning something about yourself and how you think about life.