Television review The Storybooker’s Years of Growth – George Clooney directed a useless nostalgic drama comedy about a fatherless son

Culture|Television review

Drama comedy

The Tender Bar ★★

USA 2021

Amazon Prime Video

Masculinity the philosophy includes at least these: women are not beaten, the car tire must be able to be replaced, and there must be a stash in the wallet. This is how Uncle Charlie teaches his 11-year-old niece JR, a drama comedy The Tender Bar to the protagonist.

The film tells the story of JR’s growth since 1973. Boy (Daniel Ranieri) and mother (Lily Rabe) change the mother’s parents (Sondra James and Christopher Lloyd) to Long Island, on the outskirts of New York.

The mother has not been able to pay the rent and the father (Max Martini) has left the family some time ago. The boy is happy to move in, because his grandparents have a life at home – and Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck).

JR: n the story is told from three different time levels. One belongs to a big-eyed child sitting at his uncle’s bar listening to the stories of regular visitors. The other belongs to teenagers (Tye Sheridan), which is applying to the prestigious Yale University. The third time level is the narrator. The narrative voice of an adult man marks previous time levels as memories.

And it’s about memoirs. JR Moehringer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote The Tender Bar book about their growing years. The lyrics about it were edited William Monahan, The Departedin an Oscar-winning author for the script.

However, the director is an even better-known character than the award-winning writers, George Clooney. His most recent directorial work was a science drama The Midnight Sky. Even though the man recalls his life in it, the tone is very different: the recollections take place in the last moments of the end of the world.

The Tender Barin the tragedy is less, the fatherlessness of the young JR. For a long time, Diskijukka’s father is only present as a voice on the radio, to which the boy sticks. A man rarely shows up live, even then busy or drunk.

However, fatherlessness does not look like a tragedy to the viewer at all. It is a state of being that makes the family stand more tightly next to the boy. Uncle is always present, recommending reading and taking a bowling alley.

The child’s perspective works best in the film, as it rhymes with nostalgic blue-eyedness. Ranieri is also a natural child actor.

When the film jumps into the skins of a teenager dreaming of a career as a writer, it starts to taste like a self-inflicted little thing.

The Tender Bar tells of growing up to be a storyteller, and the narrator’s voice reminds me that growing up is about telling a story.

However, instead of serving story hooks, the biography mostly loosens into anecdotes of good will. Peat extraction also becomes a life-enriching experience. Oh those were the days!