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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 441193" data-attributes="member: 8">Tender Mercies (1983)[ATTACH=full]59190[/ATTACH]I will say that this film held my attention, and everything that happens on screen looks very well made including the music.But I also think it&#039;s a bit too tender for its own good and maybe that prevents it from becoming the catharic experience it could have been.Granted, there&#039;s something unabashedly romantic and bordering-on-kitsch about the Country &amp; Western genre - in both fiction and music - therefore it&#039;s also very easy to overdo it, but the genre and setting for this story was a choice. And a difficult choice is no excuse to deliver less than the best.The restraint tone of the film isn&#039;t the problem, actually, but it would have been nice if it had been balanced with something curious or complex or revelatory rather than the straightforwardness of the story and its characters that we got in Tender Mercies.It&#039;s a lovely little film and I can&#039;t imagine anyone disliking it, but overall it left me wanting more. Sometimes that&#039;s a good thing, sometimes it&#039;s not.It&#039;s sort of like an interesting pilot movie that never materialised into a series that could have fleshed out the several supporting characters.There&#039;s also an hour-long interview with the cast, writer and director (an Australian director, and Robert Duvall assumed he wouldn&#039;t &quot;get it&quot;) - I guess it&#039;s from the late 90s or early 2000s.A few years ago I posted a comment about actress Tess Harper &quot;being one of those supporting actors who pops up in everything and yet no one seems to know her&quot; but here in Tender Mercies she plays opposite Robert Duvall. Not only that, it was her theatrical feature debut.She describes how much the film means to her (she gets a bit emotional) and this made me feel guilty for not loving the film as much as she does. I&#039;m such a wimp.[MEDIA=youtube]zJ_yoFHmwDU[/MEDIA]Ah, letters in songs.The letter to daddy, the letter sealed with a kiss, the letter saying &quot;for the nine months I carried you, growing inside me. no charge&quot;, the letter returned to sender.It&#039;s The Colbys in a nutshell.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 441193, member: 8"] Tender Mercies (1983) [ATTACH type="full"]59190[/ATTACH] I will say that this film held my attention, and everything that happens on screen looks very well made including the music. But I also think it's a bit [I]too[/I] tender for its own good and maybe that prevents it from becoming the catharic experience it could have been. Granted, there's something unabashedly romantic and bordering-on-kitsch about the Country & Western genre - in both fiction and music - therefore it's also very easy to [I]overdo[/I] it, but the genre and setting for this story was a choice. And a difficult choice is no excuse to deliver less than the best. The restraint tone of the film isn't the problem, actually, but it would have been nice if it had been balanced with something curious or complex or revelatory rather than the straightforwardness of the story and its characters that we got in Tender Mercies. It's a lovely little film and I can't imagine anyone disliking it, but overall it left me wanting more. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's not. It's sort of like an interesting pilot movie that never materialised into a series that could have fleshed out the several supporting characters. There's also an hour-long interview with the cast, writer and director (an Australian director, and Robert Duvall assumed he wouldn't "get it") - I guess it's from the late 90s or early 2000s. A few years ago I posted a comment about actress Tess Harper "being one of those supporting actors who pops up in everything and yet no one seems to know her" but here in Tender Mercies she plays opposite Robert Duvall. Not only that, it was her theatrical feature debut. She describes how much the film means to her (she gets a bit emotional) and this made me feel guilty for not loving the film as much as she does. I'm such a wimp. [MEDIA=youtube]zJ_yoFHmwDU[/MEDIA] Ah, [I]letters [/I] in songs. The letter to daddy, the letter sealed with a kiss, the letter saying "for the nine months I carried you, growing inside me. no charge", the letter returned to sender. It's The Colbys in a nutshell. [/QUOTE]

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