#5: The Sunset Limited (2010) (dir. Tommy Lee Jones)

Lots to unpack with this one but again, good timing to coincide with the just-released podcast I contributed to hosted by Ryan McNeil (linked at the end). Grateful for all-things Cormac McCarthy.

Maybe we should start at the end. Do I honestly believe that Black, The Believer (Samuel L. Jackson) was that fundamentally shaken to the core about what just took place? I am not sure. Do I believe that White, The Professor (Tommy Lee Jones) went back to the subway to take his own life as he originally intended? Without a doubt.

Even if you haven’t seen The Sunset Limited this is not spoiler territory or the kind that should come with an alert outside of a possible content/trigger warning. This is a movie about suicidal thoughts, ideation and it starts with an attempt. Something I’ve done. Something lots of people have done. If that’s a troubling notion to ponder, then maybe skip this piece because it will get heavy. The subject matter is important to me: mental health and thinking how it affects the meaning of life/death and everything in-between.

When this one popped up in the random # generator (it just occurred to me now for this project that I should indicate which numbers have been used so far), once again, I was taken aback since I had not only just talked about this movie on a podcast that comes out today, but I asked Sharon to watch it with me recently. It’s wonderful how we have different reads on the same film which leads to prolonged conversations that are very much like the ones portrayed in this film.

Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite writers. At first, while reading The Road (which was gifted me to me by a bass player in a hardcore band), I wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that he refuses to use quotation marks for dialogue. Naturally reading the book and seeing the filmed adaptation, I cried both times. Since then, I’ve enjoyed just about everything he’s done. When I heard about this HBO exclusive adaptation of his play, I knew I would find a lot to appreciate. And I still do to this day. Very few films have captured my feelings about mental health and humanity than this.

In case you’re not aware, I absolutely love it when a play is put to screen. Not everything has to be cinematic with a lot of locations, characters, fast edits and camera trickery. It can just be two people talking in a room as far as I’m concerned. I still feel conflicted about David Mamet’s film Oleanna which I think is the partial intention, both with the way its filmed and the subject matter itself. There are plenty of other examples of this being done successfully and poorly.

The Sunset Limited is exactly what I had hoped for. Yes, it’s as didactic as The Believer is at times. Really it’s about the art of conversation between opposing views. They’re having a philosophical debate that does revolve around psychological fragility. Two men, being vulnerable, sometimes still guarded with copious defense mechanisms yet they’re choosing to be honest and real. Very little small talk here.

The plot is simple: The Professor attempted to jump in front of a train but The Believer saved him and has taken back to his apartment to understand why The Professor made that decision. For about 90 minutes, we watch them share their worldview, personal experiences and history in a candid manner. I was reminded of intense sometimes confrontational conversations I’ve had with friends or therapy sessions over the years. These talks could revolve around a mistake I had made that I needed to process or I was listening to their perspective.

The Professor and The Believer have a lot to say to one another which challenges their belief system. One could reduce this to an internal debate that McCarthy himself might be having or it’s simply just pessimism vs. optimism. There is theatrical-esque blocking, moving from the table to the couch, pacing around the room, but we are sharing that intimate space with the two of them the way they are. The camera mainly stays in two-shot so we get a glimpse of the other’s reaction.

A lot of what I would say about this film now is spoken aloud in the aforementioned podcast episode I will link below but suffice to say - this is a movie that means a lot to me more and more as I get older. Is it perfect? No. It’s very talky, stagy, almost too much like a play to a fault. But it never bothers me because the conversation these two are sharing is endlessly compelling. Especially since I know what it’s like to want to die but I also know what it’s like to want to live - this story is about finding the tunnel at the end of the light. Accepting the gray area and not necessarily putting all of your stock in one viewpoint versus another. I think it’s clear where McCarthy stands - he intends to bring down the hopeful optimist and like I mentioned at the beginning, I’m not sure how much I buy the sudden collapse of The Believer towards the end.

The performances here are what you’d expect. Tommy Lee Jones is similar to the way he is in No Country For Old Men and Samuel L. Jackson is damn-near reciting biblical rhetoric in a manner that’s akin to Jules in Pulp Fiction. But each of them are just so damn great at what they do, it doesn’t matter if it’s unique or dissimilar to what they’ve done before. It’s clear that not only the characters do respect one another but you get the feeling these two actors do as well.

Arguments made through this story, from both sides, are impassioned and justifiable given their own mental states and experiences. Suicidal ideation is something that isn’t talked about because death is seen as an ending that creates guilt, loss and grief. What about the suffering? We do often say “they’re no longer suffering” when someone passes from cancer, but what about those afflicted with depression that simply can’t be managed? The mind of McCarthy does take some getting used to if you mostly view the world through rose-colored glasses.

After the Trump administration and Covid, my own rose-colored glasses have been discarded to where I am open and accepting of doom and gloom to being able to empathize even more strongly with The Professor. But I’m not completely devoid of hope either. Recently, I wasn’t feeling well and started to wonder: am I depressed because I haven’t felt physically well for most of my life going all the way back to childhood stomach aches and migraines, the latter of which I still experience.

Depression and anxiety are difficult to process and comprehend because they can cloud and confuse the way we see the world. A dear friend of mine Patrick Ripoll once described Carnival Of Souls (1962) as being one of the best portrayals of depression and he is spot-on. Walking around with no one noticing you, the feeling that you feel something that no one else is feeling. You start to feel like a ghost in your own body.

“McCarthy made a powerful film which showed the current chasm of division and asked audiences not to be quick to demonize or dehumanize their others. It’s definitely a catalyst for the decline of America when people with different beliefs stop talking to each other, and particularly stop trying to understand each other.” - Bryant Tyler

The Sunset Limited is the conversation about that feeling and whether or not we can come to terms with it. “Don’t you want to be happy,” The Believer asks. For The Professor, he has come to terms with the fact that life isn’t for him anymore, that happiness is non-existent. The world is an awful place and he wants to leave. This time it isn’t just this country that isn’t for him, it’s his mind and body that he sees as a prison. No therapist, no medication will do the trick. For The Believer, he thinks there is hope especially after what he survived while in a literal prison system. In the end though, I’d like to think of this film as being about accepting the fact that some people cannot truly be saved and that death is not something that should automatically be ‘terrible’ for those who want it as badly as The Professor does.

That’s not a sunny outlook but McCarthy is fearless in facing this idea and he’s done it a lot throughout his work. Death happens. The end. There’s no sugar-coating the fact that some people want to die and we can’t stop them. All I would hope to do in this situation is listen. McCarthy of course is in charge of conducting both sides of this orchestra so of course The Believer has to share his strong beliefs with The Professor. In turn, he does so with us. McCarthy’s confidence behind the written word and thoughtful conversation is unmatched even when he makes choices that leave a question mark.

I remember being so frustrated with the fact that he denied us the death of Llewelyn Moss in No Country For Old Men. Then I thought about it: sometimes it just unfolds, and we are denied the experience of how or why. One minute a person is contemplating having a beer, the next they’re in a shootout and die. One minute a person is having a dream, the next they’re awake, recounting the dream over breakfast. Such is life. No rhyme, reason, purpose or aligning of stars. Sometimes people randomly die because it’s the only way out. All we can do is hope that they’ve finally found peace.

Some have claimed he has a bit of nihilistic viewpoint (reading some of his work might indicate this to be true) but I do think he is genuinely interested in the complexity of human behavior to where it’s not entirely hopeless and meaningless. Still, look at the randomness of death, the suffering, the chaos theory of existence we are all exposed to. However, a desire for discourse, the ideas, the passion for words and intellect are apparent to where even if The Professor believes in nothing or embracing the void, McCarthy himself still has the curiosity and openness of The Believer to keep him going. I can’t help but wonder how much he believes that final outpouring of anger and dismay from The Professor - is that McCarthy’s own lack of faith in humanity we are hearing through this character? I’d like to think he too is an amalgam of both men, after all they both came from inside of him.

What I take comfort in are the conversations we openly share with one another - the way that The Professor and The Believer does in The Sunset Limited. This is a movie about actively listening with compassion. Something I believe in. Engaging with someone without criticism or judgment while holding on to an acceptance of their struggles. But I understand the way The Professor feels in wanting to put an end to pain and suffering too. I’ve been there. I am sad when this movie ends because yes, some people can’t be saved with the help of others. Recently, while watching it, I decided that The Professor may have found peace by deciding to do what he’s done after leaving the apartment. Yes we are once again, denied the confirmation of that act by seeing it ourselves on screen. I think The Believer knows what happens to The Professor and we as the audience do as well.

Listen to me talk more about this film here at The Matinee with Ryan McNeil: https://www.thematinee.ca/episode300