Tender Mercies

Rating:
Summary: Almost...but....
Review: It feels almost criminal not to give the obligatory five stars and effusive accolades to this film. But, expecting a prototype of The Apostle, I was a little let down by Tender Mercies. Both films deal with the similar theme of redemption, of getting a second chance in life, but The Apostle hits you much harder. In that film, Duvall takes you on a rollercoaster ride from hell to heaven. Tender Mercies does not. It takes a quieter road and this doesn't always help it. As one reviewer said, it has a 'laconic sparseness,' much like its high plains backdrop. And sometimes this skeleton would have done better with a bit more meat on its bones.

Duvall can't be faulted though. His performance as Mac Sledge, down and out ex-country legend, tormented by alcohol and the debris of divorce, is first class. Mac is taut and restrained. None of the explosive volatility of Sonny from the Apostle. By holding back, Duvall can still say everything and does, but I would have liked to have seen more tears, more rages.

Having hit rock bottom in some podunk Texas motel room, salvation arrives in the form of Tess Harper's character. A Vietnam widow, she eeks out a living for herself and for her son by managing a rundown motel. She decides to give her boozy tenant a chance to start over in life. Seeing what he was and what he could still be, her faith in Mac inspires him to change.

The only problem is that Tess's character doesn't really work. She doesn't have any depth. We never know why she opens her heart to this stranger. Ok, love...but their relationship is pretty passionless. At least from her side. With her simple wholesomeness and quiet piety, she seems a mere foil to Mac's worn-out worldliness.

The characters of Mac's ex and daughter are far more fleshed out. And better acted as well. Mac's ex seethes with the bitterness of their divorce and thus gives the film a jolt of life with her high strung antics. Jealous of Mac both professionally and personally, she can't accept his new life, his new happiness. Their daughter, played by Ellen Barkin, is the surprise of the film. Without a doubt, the best female character of the film, she subtly plays out the pains of a girl in search of her daddy. Whom she nevers really finds. Again, the complexities of the father-daughter relationship are poignantly hinted at, but taken no further.....

As is the spiritual change that inspires Mac to become baptized in the local church. What's the motivation behind it? Merely love for Tess's character or did he himself feel the need for it? Unexplored territory. Such unanswered questions often times increase the suspense of things, but here, too little was just too little.

The ending though makes up for these grey areas. Tragedy stikes as one door of life is closed and another opens. Mac dies to his past so he can start again. But at a tremendous cost. With the ending, Beresford does a truly masterful job of mixing pain with hope, as the ultimate message of the film is revealed. The Lord does indeed shower us with His 'tender mercies.' As He taketh, He giveth.

Tender Mercies, despite its flaws, is indeed a powerful story. Well worth the watch and for Duvall fans, a must. A taste treat, it gives a hint of even better things to come.

Rating:
Summary: Almost...but....
Review: It feels almost criminal not to give the obligatory five stars and effusive accolades to this film. But, expecting a prototype of The Apostle, I was a little let down by Tender Mercies. Both films deal with the similar theme of redemption, of getting a second chance in life, but The Apostle hits you much harder. In that film, Duvall takes you on a rollercoaster ride from hell to heaven. Tender Mercies does not. It takes a quieter road and this doesn't always help it. As one reviewer said, it has a 'laconic sparseness,' much like its high plains backdrop. And sometimes this skeleton would have done better with a bit more meat on its bones.

Duvall can't be faulted though. His performance as Mac Sledge, down and out ex-country legend, tormented by alcohol and the debris of divorce, is first class. Mac is taut and restrained. None of the explosive volatility of Sonny from the Apostle. By holding back, Duvall can still say everything and does, but I would have liked to have seen more tears, more rages.

Having hit rock bottom in some podunk Texas motel room, salvation arrives in the form of Tess Harper's character. A Vietnam widow, she eeks out a living for herself and for her son by managing a rundown motel. She decides to give her boozy tenant a chance to start over in life. Seeing what he was and what he could still be, her faith in Mac inspires him to change.

The only problem is that Tess's character doesn't really work. She doesn't have any depth. We never know why she opens her heart to this stranger. Ok, love...but their relationship is pretty passionless. At least from her side. With her simple wholesomeness and quiet piety, she seems a mere foil to Mac's worn-out worldliness.

The characters of Mac's ex and daughter are far more fleshed out. And better acted as well. Mac's ex seethes with the bitterness of their divorce and thus gives the film a jolt of life with her high strung antics. Jealous of Mac both professionally and personally, she can't accept his new life, his new happiness. Their daughter, played by Ellen Barkin, is the surprise of the film. Without a doubt, the best female character of the film, she subtly plays out the pains of a girl in search of her daddy. Whom she nevers really finds. Again, the complexities of the father-daughter relationship are poignantly hinted at, but taken no further.....

As is the spiritual change that inspires Mac to become baptized in the local church. What's the motivation behind it? Merely love for Tess's character or did he himself feel the need for it? Unexplored territory. Such unanswered questions often times increase the suspense of things, but here, too little was just too little.

The ending though makes up for these grey areas. Tragedy stikes as one door of life is closed and another opens. Mac dies to his past so he can start again. But at a tremendous cost. With the ending, Beresford does a truly masterful job of mixing pain with hope, as the ultimate message of the film is revealed. The Lord does indeed shower us with His 'tender mercies.' As He taketh, He giveth.

Tender Mercies, despite its flaws, is indeed a powerful story. Well worth the watch and for Duvall fans, a must. A taste treat, it gives a hint of even better things to come.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great American Film made by a foreigner . . .
Review: It so happens that Tender Mercies was my very first DVD purchase - only because it was marked down to a ridiculous $7.49 (probably due to a protracted shelf life) and because it is easily one of the best American films of the last twenty years (hang it! of the last fifty years!). Bruce Beresford is one of those itinerant directors who has managed a career out of a suitcase. Yet every film he has made, excepting perhaps Her Alibi, is something of a masterpiece. Tender Mercies could be used to instruct film school students about how suggestive a film can be with an absolute minimum of means. Mac Sledge and the people he encounters in that armpit of the world have only the most rudimentary means of expression. Song writing, though littered with the usual emblematic platitudes, is his only chance at what might otherwise be mistaken for self-transcendence, but is actually his only way of expressing the bafflement he feels in the face of life. Meretriciously, but sweetly, his bitter ex-wife (played beautifully by Betty Buckley) has made a good living off all the love songs he once wrote for her, and continues to sing them (albeit without conviction). When he finds happiness again, even if he refuses to trust it, he is compelled to write songs again. And one of the loveliest scenes in the film is his unassuming return to singing. And Robert Duvall creates another of his sculptured performances of a simple man who finds eloquence through his mistrust of happiness and his bewilderment at life. Tender Mercies is a Great American Film, without bothering with the ubiquitous sound and fury that signifies so little in most others.

Rating:
Summary: Duvall Shines
Review: Robert Duvall gives the most complete performance of a spectacular career. He stars as a washed up country named Mac Sledge. Booze has been his down fall and his once great career is now in the toilet. He ends up with a woman (Tess Harper) and her young son. He starts to pick up the pieces of his life by doing work around the house. He fall in love with the woman and they eventually marry. He sings a few songs at a local honky tonk and everything is going great. His ex-wife (Betty Buckley) is still a big star, but is struggling with their daughter. The daughter comes and sees Mac and they bond like they never have before, but she is tragically killed. He must come face to face with all his past problems. Mr. Duvall plays the role of Mac perfectly. We feel his troubles, his loss, the rebirth he goes through. He is stunning in the role. Ms. Harper is very good as is a very young Ellen Barkin as his daughter. Mr. Duvall won a richly deserved Best Actor Oscar and Horton Foote who had previously won an Oscar for To Kill A Mockingbird (in which Mr. Duvall made his debut in) won a second for his screenplay.

Rating:
Summary: Duvall Shines
Review: Robert Duvall gives the most complete performance of a spectacular career. He stars as a washed up country named Mac Sledge. Booze has been his down fall and his once great career is now in the toilet. He ends up with a woman (Tess Harper) and her young son. He starts to pick up the pieces of his life by doing work around the house. He fall in love with the woman and they eventually marry. He sings a few songs at a local honky tonk and everything is going great. His ex-wife (Betty Buckley) is still a big star, but is struggling with their daughter. The daughter comes and sees Mac and they bond like they never have before, but she is tragically killed. He must come face to face with all his past problems. Mr. Duvall plays the role of Mac perfectly. We feel his troubles, his loss, the rebirth he goes through. He is stunning in the role. Ms. Harper is very good as is a very young Ellen Barkin as his daughter. Mr. Duvall won a richly deserved Best Actor Oscar and Horton Foote who had previously won an Oscar for To Kill A Mockingbird (in which Mr. Duvall made his debut in) won a second for his screenplay.

Rating:
Summary: Simple and Beautiful.
Review: Robert Duvall stars in this film as Mac Sledge, a famous former country music star who after years of struggling with alcoholism begins life again thanks in part to the love of a young widow (Tess Harper) and her son. This is not the typical Hollywood movie. In fact, this isn't even the typical Hollywood drama. The film feels like a very personal piece of moviemaking, as though it is a documentary brilliantly edited together to tell a simple, yet profound and moving story. Until THE APOSTLE, this was Duvall's best work and illustrated the true greatness of his acting talent. The screenplay won an Academy Award for the great Horton Foote and it doesn't take a genius to see why. Life truly is beautiful and God's mercies are tender.

Rating:
Summary: SIMPLE GENIUS
Review: ROBERT DUVALL WON THE BEST ACTOR OSCAR FOR HIS ROLE IN THIS LITTLE FILM AND RIGHTFULLY SO.
HORTON FOOTES SIMPLE SCRIPT ALONG WITH NORTH TEXAS FLATLANDS FRAME THIS POIGNANT TALE OF AN ON THE SKIDS ONE TIME SOMEBODY IN THE WORLD OF COUNTRY MUSIC. ENTER MAC SLEDGE, DOWN AND OUT DRUNKARD WHO CANT EVEN PAY HIS MOTEL BILL.
HE ELECTS TO WORK IT OFF AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE WIDOWED MOTHER/OWNER OF THE RAMSHAKLE ROADSIDE INN.
TESS HARPER PLAYS THE CONSERVATIVE TEMPERANT CHRISTIAN WOMAN WHO HELPS MAC FIND HIS WAY AND MARRIES HIM IN THE PROCESS.
HE SLOWLY LICKS THE BOTTLE WHILE WARRING WITH HIS EX WIFE WHO IS CURRENTLY SUCCESSFUL IN HER OWN MUSIC CAREER.
THE EX COUPLE BATTLE OVER MACS RIGHTS TO SEE HIS ESTRANGED DAUGHTER PLAYED BY ELLEN BARKIN.
MAC RECORDS A SINGLE AND BEGINS PLAYING WITH A LOCAL BAND. SLEDGE GETS SAVED AND BAPTISED AT THE SPURRING OF HIS NEW WIFE AND WE BEGIN TO SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR OUR PROTAGONIST.THIS IS NOT AN ACTION FLICK, A SCI FI FLUFF FILM OR A SLAP YOUR KNEE COMEDY. THIS IS A SIMPLE MOVIE WITH CHARACTERS AS RICH AS MILK CHOCALATE AND A STORY CRAFTED FROM QUALITY.

IT IS DOUBTFUL THIS FILM MADE MUCH MONEY AT THE BOX OFFICE. BUT THAT IN ITSELF SHOULD TELL YOU IT IS A THINKING PERSONS FILM

Rating:
Summary: A perfect movie about an imperfect man.
Review: Sometimes you can't do it any better. This is one of those times. Bruce Beresford has crafted a perfect film; one who's only drawback is that it ever has to end. Beresford, Robert Duvall and Tess Harper manage to create both characters and a world that allow you fall into the screen and forget you are watching a film. You will be moved to both tears and laughter, and left feeling very warm in a subtle way forgotten by most of today's Twist Your Emotions With Blunt Force films.

The story of a man, Mac Sledge, who has seen bright lights and soaring heights but has now fallen on extremely hard times. Drunk, broke, and looking none to trustworthy, Mac is befriended, and finally loved, by a young widow and her son. And that's basically it. There's a subplot involving Mac's estranged relationships with his daughter and ex-wife, but primarily it's about one man picking himself up, dusting himself off, and getting on with life after having been kicked in the pants.

The crux of the film is Duvall, and in more ways than one. First is his complex portrayal of Mac. Conditioned by so many formula movies, you keep waiting for Mac to fall of the wagon, only to redeem himself again somehow. But Mac never does fall, and Duvall lets you see just how difficult that is. How hard, but also how satisfying, it is for a man to stand up to life when all he wants to do is run and hide. And he does it without ever even doing so much as raising his voice.

But his acting isn't all Duvall gives to the film. Singing his own songs, Duvall makes you firmly believe that Mac Sledge has an ocean of musical talent. With not much of a voice, and singing rather simple, country tunes, Duvall nevertheless evokes powerful images of love, loss and redemption.

Certainly there is never a good reason not to see any movie starring Duvall, but this one is perhaps the finest of them all, with only The Apostle and Lonesome Dove ranking up there with Tender Mercies.

As I said, you don't want Tender Mercies to end. You want to spend just a few more minutes with Mac and his family, maybe getting to hear him croak out one more soft tune. But end it does, and it does so both subtly and abruptly. It's abrupt because you really aren't expecting the final scene to be the final scene. There's been no mammoth resolution of these people's lives, just slow and steady change and improvement. But that's why I also call it subtle. Because the sudden end fits in perfectly with the picture's meaning. Life doesn't end with swelling music and concrete resolutions, and stories about life are truer when they don't as well. Tender Mercies ends as it began, with a simple moment cut out of a man's life. And it's the triumph of the movie that it allows you to compare the simple final scene to the first one and realize that, for Mac Sledge, it's an accomplishment as dramatic as walking on the moon.

Rating:
Summary: A minor classic
Review: There are major classics, like "Citizen Kane" and then there are minor classics like "Tender Mercies." It is the difference between a Beethoven symphony and a Chopin nocturne. Each is perfect within its own scale. "Tender Mercies" is a perfect minor classic. Its pace is meditative. Duvall plays a shy man, on the run from himself, but on the way back to finding himself. Two of the many great scenes: A country western band just starting out has heard that the great Mac Sledge is in the area and they come out to see him. They pull up in their van. Watch the way Duvall comes out and interacts with them. He is pleased but shy and a little blinkered. And then there is the scene where his daughter comes to see him. Both Duvall and the young actress (she has become famous but her name escapes) play the scene beautifully. It is such a pity that more people don't know about this film. I have yet to meet a person who has seen it, aside from my wife, and she and I have seen it five times. The video is a must have.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly wonderful
Review: This is a film that just draws you in despite any objections to the subject matter or the speed of the plot. You just want to know more about Mac's life as the story moves along and you cheer at his transformation and relate to his struggles. A fine film.