Blu-ray Review: ‘The Sunset Limited’ Brilliantly Adapts Cormac McCarthy’s Play

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CHICAGO – Tommy Lee Jones’s production of Cormac McCarthy’s two-character play debuted last year on HBO to little fanfare. Now that the film has finally been released on Blu-ray and DVD, it deserves to be placed at the top of every cinephile’s queue. It is, quite simply, one of the best films of 2011 and the finest cinematic adaptation yet made of the great novelist’s work.

Using an oft-sentimentalized premise as its jumping off point, the film delves into a battle between two opposing viewpoints that question the fundamentals of existence. McCarthy’s astonishing dialogue cuts deep into mankind’s most primal obsessions and fears while allowing each man to articulate his impassioned beliefs, which are often as black and white as life and death. It’s only appropriate for the unnamed characters to be credited as White (played by Jones) and Black (a riveting Samuel L. Jackson).

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

The action unfolds in the moments following Jones’s failed suicide attempt. He hurled himself in front of a train only to fall into the arms of Jackson, an ex-con with a thriving spiritual life. Jones is an atheistic philosophy professor whose disgust with the world has led him to find a quick escape. For the play’s 90-minute duration, Jackson keeps Jones locked in his apartment with the hope that he will be able to talk the unstable man out of offing himself. In a way, Jackson’s role is similar to that of Gabriel Byrne’s psychiatrist in HBO’s masterful drama, “In Treatment,” though the actor brings a dash of malevolence and humor to the material that fuses impeccably with Jones’s straight-man sensibilities. It’s clear that Jackson is as bullheaded in his beliefs as Jones, though like most religious people, he does have his share of doubts. What’s most unsettling is Jones’s bleak certainty that the world is little more than a “forced labor camp” of futility and injustice. The eloquence of his words and the power of his conviction prevent the script from morphing into a warmly reassuring “Touched by an Angel” retread. There’s some ambiguity as to whether Jackson is a supernatural being intent on earning his wings, but his anxiety and vulnerability keep him firmly grounded in mortal reality.

The Sunset Limited was released on Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 7, 2012.
The Sunset Limited was released on Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 7, 2012.
Photo credit: HBO Home Entertainment

Despite the confines of a single set, the hypnotic movements and intriguing angles of Paul Elliott’s cinematography dispel any sense of claustrophobia. McCarthy’s writing is of such great substance that it’s easy to overlook just how entertaining it is. When the despondent Jones agreeably utters the word, “Probably,” Jackson quips, “‘Probably’ from you is worth a couple ‘damn rights’ anywhere else.” Extreme violence is also somewhat of a trademark in McCarthy’s work, and though there’s no onscreen bloodletting, Jackson delivers a monologue about his near-fatal altercation in prison that plays directly into the viewer’s imagination. As the man who famously quoted “Ezekiel 25:17” before blowing a man’s brains out in “Pulp Fiction,” Jackson is no stranger to playing intimidating men of faith. Yet “Black” is neither a fearsome zealot nor a “magical negro.” He is a well-intentioned man who takes it upon himself to be the last obstacle in a stranger’s path toward self-destruction. And Jones is a devout misanthrope whose vast education has left him feeling so empty that he’d rather tumble into a void than face one more day of life. Together, these men make a mesmerizing pair, and both actors are at the top of their game. This is a film to discuss, to debate and to treasure.
 
“The Sunset Limited” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English, French and Spanish audio tracks and includes an all-too-brief making-of featurette. Jones and his crew discuss how the look of Jackson’s apartment was partly inspired by research conducted in Harlem. The picture of Martin Luther King contained in a vegetable baggie is one example of the design detail taken from real life locations. Though the powerhouse trio of McCarthy, Jones and Jackson on the audio commentary track is the disc’s main draw, their infrequent conversation never really catches fire. Instead of delving into the picture’s philosophical issues, the filmmakers often use aspects of the film as a jumping off point for unrelated discussion. Jones’s analysis doesn’t go beyond the boundaries of ambiguous remarks like, “This is an important shot,” yet he’s correct in allowing McCarthy’s text to speak for itself. It’s amusing to hear both actors continue to question their own dialogue while asking McCarthy about its meaning. When White insists that he’s only interested in the truth contained in history books, Jones replies, “Sometimes I wonder how a history book could be true.”

The director made a point of shooting the film with a Sony F35 digital camera in order to avoid “clipping whites and crushing blacks” in each frame, while capturing the meticulous textures of each surface. For a film exploring the gray areas of existence, this is the perfect visual approach to the material. Equally inspired is the work of composer Marco Beltrami, who studied the soundscapes of Tony Schwartz to create a haunting score that evokes the ambience and noise of everyday urban life. While Jones claims that many viewers have found the ending pessimistic, he believes that the final line of dialogue is hopeful. Beltrami’s score ends the film on a harmonious note with a gorgeous mosaic of worship music, combining everything from Hindu chants to Southern Baptist songs. Yet as in “No Country For Old Men,” the last sound heard on the soundtrack is a ticking clock, marking the time that we all have left on this planet before the final mystery of our afterlife is revealed. Until then, we have no choice but to debate, contemplate and rely instinctively on faith.

‘The Sunset Limited’ is released by HBO Home Entertainment and stars Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. It was written by Cormac McCarthy and directed by Tommy Lee Jones. It was released on Feb. 7, 2012. It is not rated.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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