[wpdevart_youtube]d7rlUe-Thvk[/wpdevart_youtube]THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN ****
Dir: David Lowery
Starring: Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck
(USA, 12A 1hr 33mins)
Allegedly Robert Redford’s final film, this is a gently funny drama with bags of charm, a fitting swansong for a Hollywood icon. Redford plays real-life gentleman bank-robber, Forrest Tucker, who was arrested in 1981 for a string of 80 rascally heists at the ripe old age of 76.
Initially an article in the New Yorker magazine by David Grann, writer/director David Lowery has added his own whimsical take on the source material. Redford and his ageing partners in crime, played by Danny Glover (who can now legitimately say he is too old for this shit) and a fantastic Tom Waits. They became known as The Over-the Hill Gang, evading capture with aplomb.
As the film progresses Casey Affleck’s dogged cop draws close whilst simultaneously gaining an admiration for his quarry. There’s a great few scenes with Sissy Spacek as a woman whom Redford has a dalliance with after encountering her broken down on the side of a road. There’s also a heartbreaking scene with Elisabeth Moss as the daughter Redford didn’t know he had. It’s beautifully acted, languidly paced and full of character detail, like Lowery’s other films.
Also like Lowery’s previous film, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and A Ghost Story, The Old Man and the Gun has an unexpected, beguiling emotional weight whilst being utterly charming. Redford’s old Hollywood glamour is referenced in a flashback scene from The Chase, a film he starred in 1966 alongside Marlon Brando, but his ageing craggy face is more interesting to watch now with experience etched all over it.
A bank robber coming to terms with his life and its worth; The Old Man and The Gun is full of rich subtext as Redford’s celluloid history cannot be ignored. A lovely, well-observed film full of nuance, apt for Redford’s ageing Sundance Kid, as he rides off into the cinematic sunset. KEIRON SELF
In cinemas now.