Tenderness takes naivete, a serial killer, and a lonely cop and adds some juxtaposition to create an interesting offbeat thriller. This 101 Minute film was released in 2009. Somehow, it managed to get in and out of the theaters without grabbing my attention, which is odd considering it stars Russell Crowe.
Tenderness is based on a novel written by Robert Cormier. Emil Stern adapted the novel into an interesting screenplay. Between them, they develop intriguing, engaging characters that each keep the audience guessing. Who is really crazy here? The cop who leaves his jurisdiction convinced that the young teen has not rehabilitated and will kill again? The underage female who has been sexually abused and latches on to the killer? Or is the killer going to strike again? And what better opportunity than to travel with a young potential victim?
Lt. Cristofuorno (Crowe) is a recently retired investigator. His wife has been in the hospital for a long time with little or not chance of recovery. The case that was most important to him was a young man named Jon Foster (Eric Poole) who killed his parents. It seems Foster may have killed his parents to cover up another murder, which has convinced Lt. Crisofuorno that Foster will kill again. The investigator makes it his mission to follow the young man out of state to prevent him from killing again.
Lori (Sophie Traub) is a teenage girl who can't seem to catch a break. Her boss masturbates while she exposes herself in his office. Her mother has shacked up with another man who spies on her while she is in the shower. Lori's life seems to be going nowhere and she seeks an opportunity to change direction. She seems to have some common past with Foster that isn't clearly examined at first. Lori ends up tagging along with Foster on a cross country journey that is not bound to end well. The question for the audience is "which one of these characters is the craziest?"
As a Thriller, Tenderness worked well for me. The writers do an excellent job of creating tension between the characters, who are carefully developed. The character flaws are intriguing, creating questions and doubts about the motives of each one of them. Other films that take this approach can be confusing or choppy. This story evolves naturally, slowly feeding more information to the audience as the story develops. This adds new dimensions to each of the characters while causing the audience to continually evaluate each set of motives. The ending creates a decent amount of suspense with a mild twist.
Crowe is excellent, as usual. His ability to morph from role to role always amazes me. He always seems to bring something fresh to each performance. I am not familiar with the other two actors, but was impressed at their delivery. At first, I doubted Poole's ability to pull off his role. As a potential serial killer, he seemed a bit soft to me. However, as the film progressed, I was surprised to find myself buying into the entire concept, due in large part to Poole's performance. Traub also delivered an excellent performance. The three major roles in this film were exceptionally well cast, which went a long way towards making this film work. Although the action was slow at times, the actors kept the story moving along.
Tenderness was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. The material is thematic and includes several scenes of sensuality. The sexual content in the film isn't visually explicit, but the concept may be disturbing to some viewers. The violence scenes are also handled tastefully, with a mild gore factor. However, those scenes also include disturbing imagery. Strong language was another mild factor in the rating. This film deals with some heavy material which may be too much for an immature audience. However, it is not gory or filled with nudity. The imagery is more cerebral, making it more disturbing than graphic. Teen audiences and older should be fine with the content.
I was pleasantly surprised by Tenderness. I wasn't sure how good it would be considering generally bad reviews and scores at IMDb. Having Russell Crowe in the credits went a long way toward convincing me to watch it. The Thriller genre is one of my favorites, but this type of film is generally very well done or poorly done. There is not a lot of middle ground for thrillers. Although sluggish at times, the film tells and excellent story with strong characters that keep the audience guessing. 7/10.