The Yellow Handkerchief

I must confess this movie caught my eye on Netflix because the director is Indian: Udayan Prasad. The name didn't ring a bell, but I wanted to see what he did with William Hurt and a mainstream American script.

Turns out, plenty.  Hurt carries the movie, with dead-on, laconic blue-collar authenticity.  Maria Bello as his love interest and Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne as the two confused, lost, searching teens are perfect.  We have met all of these characters before, but they are nonetheless individual and alive.

Prasad previously directed My Son The Fanatic (Om Puri as a straying Muslim immigrant in London), which was also done well, but this material is more challenging for being so rooted in Americana.  The road trip through the Louisiana byways is so iconic it feels like the 1950s; he pulls it off without cliches.

The ending is a bit tame, but what the movie is going for is not grit but heart, and does so well.

3*
2011