Can an old dog learn new tricks? I am not sure.
What if a dog can perform its’ same trick(s) really well regardless of age? Clint Eastwood and his film The Mule are material evidence to suggest the affirmative.
The 89 year-old Eastwood (b. May 31, 1930) checks off all the boxes and hits all the marks with this wonderful presentation based on a real-life person and story. How can he keep doing this? Your guess is as good as mine.
While the Actor Eastwood could appear in films presenting extreme or exaggerated personalities, the Actor\Director Eastwood in his most successful works is almost always focused on careful development of the story and characters. The Mule continues the tradition.
From a viewing perspective The Mule starts out good and gets better with each minute.
The Mule depicts a sweeping set of aspects in everyday life; selfishness, success, instant gratification, failure, regret, unwillingness to forgive, forgiveness, lack of self awareness, self awareness, and man’s inhumanity towards man.
The supporting cast of The Mule is littered with some of the best actors in film. The roles are supposedly to be of real people and each is quite good. If you are expecting any to be over the top characters or performances – you are missing the point.
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Jeff’s Thoughts and Worthless Trivia
Alison Eastwood co-stars as the daughter Iris. She is Clint’s daughter in real life. Be wary of “the look” as it happens in The Mule – often. You know what I mean. Eastwood did not turn to stone at any point during filming.
Taissa Farmiga co-stars as the grand-daugther. She could easily be Vera Farmiga’s (Up in the Air) daughter. While 21 years younger, Taissa is Vera’s sister.
Dianne Wiest (The Bird Cage) co-stars as the ex-wife. In my opinion, Wiest is one of the most underrated actors in firm of all time.
