Dreary and slow. What passes for thoughtful in indie land,its lesson seems to be this: some people are literally dying to get killed by really boring and charmless sociopaths.Everything fails, from the embarrassingly quanky music (two artsy-folksy songs under action made me blush and cringe) to the pedestrian camera work and editing to the WTF year-is-this?-costumes-and-hair to the casting of good actors in tiny parts,(better no Laura Dern than shooting with her for one day), to poor Crowe, looking puffy and depressed in sweater vest, 70s polyester, given absolutely nothing to do. Aside from moping and delivering a teen diaryish VO, this physical and vibrant actor is given nothing for his character. Sophie Traub is valiant in her efforts to give this heartless rust belt film some spark--but Jon Foster is a dead space on the screen and drowns everything around him in a kind of insidious averageness.
Review of Tenderness
