“Write what you know” was the guiding principle for William Blake Herron when creating screenplay for his directorial debut, 1999 drama A Texas Funeral. Inspired by author’s parents and set in his native Texas, it has the plot that begins in 1969. Grandpa Sparta (played by Martin Sheen) has died and his family is gathering for the funeral. His grandson Little Sparta (played by Quinton Jones) has plenty of opportunity to meet and observe relatives, many of whom are eccentric or dysfunctional, including grandfather’s widow Murtis (played by Grace Zabriskie) who practices strange ritual and grandfather’s pet camel which seems to be rattled by something.
A Texas Funeral is very obscure film despite having rather respectable cast that, apart from Sheen, includes such notable names like Joanne Whalley, Chris Noth, Robert Patrick, Olivia d’Abo and Isaiah Washington. This obscurity is usually explained by poor quality, but in this particular case Herron did mostly solid work. What makes this film unusual is mix of genres and tones that made A Texas Funeral difficult to categorise for distributors, at least all those who like films to follow formula which is easy to advertise. Herron’s film begins like standard drama about family secrets with slightly humorous tone and period setting. But it soon starts to go weird, with elements of fantasy and characters so eccentric and outrageous that they belong more to the works of Federico Fellini than those of average Hollywood film maker. Some of those characters and subplots work better than others, but film at times seems lost between the worlds. Despite characters living in 1960s, at times they seem that they have been brought from another era, and it takes some heavy-handed references to Vietnam War and US civil rights struggle for the audience to be reminded when exactly the plot takes place. The ending, which is more conventional and Hollywood-like, stands out for the quirkiness and unconventionality that dominates the rest of the film. The result is a film that tries too many different things and not particularly succeeding in either one, but which is entertaining enough to be recommended to viewers that don’t expect too much.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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