Tenderness (2008)

From NetFlix:

After completing his stint in a juvenile detention center for murder, 18-year-old ex-con Eric Poole (Jon Foster) embarks on a hazardous road trip with Lori, a hyper teen (Sophie Traub), close by his side. But little do the troubled pair know that they are being tracked by Det. Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe), a hard-nosed New York cop who’s convinced that Poole is a psychopath capable of killing again.

Detective Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe) is not so much hard-nosed as he is a caring man who is almost retired from the force and has as his only case the task of preventing Eric Poole (Jon Foster) from killing again. In fact the detective spends most of his time at the side of his comatose wife caring for her. Otherwise he is tracking Eric.

For only a short while did I wonder if Eric is really a psychopath, but only for a short while. Jon Foster as Eric Poole is perfect portraying a conflicted young man searching for a way out. Foster played Art Bechstein in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008), a film I strongly recommend.

Not until the end of the film could I really understood what was motivating Lori (Sophie Traub). At that very end all the details add up to her real goal. She played young Sylvia in The Interpreter (2005).

You will not experience any violence, but the threat of such is constantly lurking in this psychological drama. What you might experience, however, is sadness for the two unfortunate young characters.

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