"The Yellow Handkerchief" is an excellent drama by Udayan Prasad. Low key, sensitive and gentle, the film watches as ex-convict Bretty Hanson (William Hurt) embarks on an impromptu road-trip with two troubled teens. The trio travel across post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana, hoping to locate Hanson's long-lost love. If she wants to reconcile with him, she'll tie yellow handkerchiefs on her moored boat as a signal. If not, Hanson's to keep moving on.
The film uses flashbacks to delve into Hanson's past life. Through these, we learn why he was incarcerated and why he and his lover, played by Maria Bello, split. The couple's relationship is mirrored to that of the film's two teenagers (Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne), both of whom are social outcasts, alienated and looking for acceptance. The film's romance between Stewart and Redmayne is rushed and unconvincing. Prasad would have done better to keep things platonic.
Bello and Hurt make up for this, though, with a couple strong performances. Hurt imbues his character with a quiet suffering, a sense of perpetual tiredness, whilst Bello's feisty, fiery but deeply scarred. Elsewhere the film abounds with strong, quiet moments. Consider how, when released from his prison cell, Hurt says goodbye to fellow in-mates, how he later savours his first beer in years, and how a near-worldless scene introduces him to Kristen Stewart's young character. Only in "Handkerchief's" final act does director Udayan Prasad abandon nuance. The rest of the film plays like a well filmed short story.
No surprise, then, that the film's story was based on a famous folktale. This tale was then turned into a short story by Pete Hamill, and also a famous, now-classic song called "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", sung by Dawn and Tony Orlando.
8.5/10 - Worth two viewings. See "Frozen River" and "Everything Must Go".
The film uses flashbacks to delve into Hanson's past life. Through these, we learn why he was incarcerated and why he and his lover, played by Maria Bello, split. The couple's relationship is mirrored to that of the film's two teenagers (Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne), both of whom are social outcasts, alienated and looking for acceptance. The film's romance between Stewart and Redmayne is rushed and unconvincing. Prasad would have done better to keep things platonic.
Bello and Hurt make up for this, though, with a couple strong performances. Hurt imbues his character with a quiet suffering, a sense of perpetual tiredness, whilst Bello's feisty, fiery but deeply scarred. Elsewhere the film abounds with strong, quiet moments. Consider how, when released from his prison cell, Hurt says goodbye to fellow in-mates, how he later savours his first beer in years, and how a near-worldless scene introduces him to Kristen Stewart's young character. Only in "Handkerchief's" final act does director Udayan Prasad abandon nuance. The rest of the film plays like a well filmed short story.
No surprise, then, that the film's story was based on a famous folktale. This tale was then turned into a short story by Pete Hamill, and also a famous, now-classic song called "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", sung by Dawn and Tony Orlando.
8.5/10 - Worth two viewings. See "Frozen River" and "Everything Must Go".