Tender Mercies

A film set at a roadside motel in Texas. Mac is a former country singer. He drinks, has no money, and after a fight one night ends up staying at the motel. In the morning he cannot pay the bill. The owner makes him an offer: if he works he can clear it. Rosa Lee is a young widow. Her husband died in Vietnam, she has a son, and she runs the motel alone. Mac stays. He tidies the yard, minds the petrol pump, and stops drinking. After a while they marry. From there the film comes down into daily life. A church, a baptism, a tractor, a local band and a new song being written. Mac's past comes back. His former wife is a well known singer and her tour passes through the town. He has a daughter as well. Sue Anne wants to see him and her mother is against it. What the narrative is interested in is not redemption but quiet: the film sets no turning point anywhere; Mac's change is given through daily work rather than speeches. There is very little dialogue. The narrative never says the most important things and leaves the gaps open. There is a loss, and in the scene given to it the film keeps the same quiet. Mac asks one question and gets no answer. The songs are written inside the film. Robert Duvall sings them himself. The screenplay was written directly for the screen and is not based on a novel. The film won two Academy Awards: Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley and Ellen Barkin are in the cast. Bruce Beresford directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet American drama with little speech. Who it is not for: anyone expecting incident; the film tells almost nothing in ninety minutes and that is a deliberate choice.