That Evening Sun (film)

That Evening Sun is a 2009 American independent Southern Gothic rural drama film directed and written by Scott Teems on a screenplay that adapted the 2002 short story, "I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down," by author William Gay. The film was produced by Laura Smith, Terence Barry, and actors Ray McKinnon and Walton Goggins, who both starred in the film.

Set in William Gay's native rural Tennessee, the film follows a widowed aging farmer, Abner Meecham, portrayed by Hal Holbrook, who is sent to a retirement home by his trial lawyer son Paul, portrayed by Walton Goggins, after Abner breaks his hip. Meecham sneaks off back to his family farm to discover that his son has leased the property to a "white trash" slacker, Lonzo Choat, portrayed by Ray McKinnon.

Meecham is forced to live in a sharecropper's shed when Choat moves his family, including his wife Ludie, portrayed by Carrie Preston, and his defiant teenage daughter Pamela, portrayed by Mia Wasikowska, into the farm's main residence. Meecham and Lonzo soon engage in hostilities, with Abner taking action when seeing a drunken Lonzo committing domestic abuse on his wife and daughter.

Filming took place in the East Tennessee region, primarily in and around the cities of Knoxville, Lenoir City, and Rockwood, during a 22-day period in the summer of 2008. Additional music for the film was provided by the Georgia-based Southern rock/alternative country outfit the Drive-By Truckers.

That Evening Sun premiered in March 2009 at South By Southwest, where it received the Audience Award for Narrative Feature and a special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast. Joe Leydon of Variety hailed it as "an exceptionally fine example of regional indie filmmaking," and praised Holbrook's performance as a "career-highlight star turn as an irascible octogenarian farmer who will not go gentle into that good night." That Evening Sun also was screened at the 2009 Nashville Film Festival, where Holbrook was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Award, and the film itself received another Audience Award.

The film opened in limited release in November 2009 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 7, 2010.