Tenderness (2009)

A policeman works to figure out whether a violent teen murdered his family.

Director:

John Polson

Writers:

Emil Stern (screenplay), Robert Cormier (novel)

Stars:

Russell Crowe, Jon Foster, Sophie Traub

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Russell Crowe	...	Lt. Cristofuoro
Jon Foster	...	Eric Poole
Sophie Traub	...	Lori
Laura Dern	...	Aunt Teresa
Alexis Dziena	...	Maria
Arija Bareikis	...	Marsha
Tim Hopper	...	Dan Komenko
Vivienne Benesch	...	Lisa Komenko
Brian Patrick Russell	...	Facility Director (as Brian Russell)
Lou Sumrall	...	Cafeteria Guard
Tanya Clarke	...	Jackie Cristofuoro
Michael Kelly	...	Gary
Lee R. Sellars	...	Sam (as Lee Sellars)
Matt Pepper	...	Ben
Saul Stein	...	Another Guard

Storyline

Three lives. Buffalo detective Lt. Cristofuoro, whose catatonic wife is in hospital, takes a special interest in Eric Komenko, a juvenile who killed his parents and will be freed on his 18th birthday. So does Lori Cranston, 15 or 16, her body fully developed and the object of lust by her boss and her mother's new boyfriend. She keeps a scrapbook about Eric, and when he's released from custody, she hides in the backseat of his car, insisting he take her with him on a trip toward Albany where he's planning to meet a girl. Cristofuoro is certain Eric will kill again, so he follows. It's clear early on that Cristofuoro's probably right, but what's Lori's motivation?

---

Plot Keywords:

teenage girl | release from prison | road trip | ill wife | police | 

---

Taglines:

The intimacy of the kill.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent and sexual content, and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 2009 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Tenderness - Auf der Spur des Killers

Filming Locations:

Arthur Kill Correctional Facility - 2911 Arthur Kill Road, Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, GreeneStreet Films, iDeal Partners Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Russell Crowe filmed all of his scenes in 9 days.

---

Goofs

When checking the back seat of his car for Eric, Detective Cristofuoro cocked his gun and the slide stayed open, showing the gun was unloaded. In the next shot, the gun's slide was closed.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Lt. Cristofuoro: My wife likes to say there are two kinds of people, those chasing pleasure, and those running from pain. Lorelei Cranston is Running. Running from all kinds of everything. Probably has been her whole life.
Lt. Cristofuoro: If you ask me, nobody gets to escape their pain. It's there when you brush your teeth at night. It's there before breakfast. It will come up fierce and sharp, and lay in to you blunt and heavy. The most you can hope for is one good day. Because on a good day you get to tell ...

---

Connections

Features Half-Life: Counter-Strike (2000)

---

Soundtracks

Back to Earth Again
Written and Performed by David Castle
Published by Engine Co 30 (BMI) and Davyboy Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Rescue Records, a division of 5 Alarm Music

User Reviews

The intimacy of the kill is tenderness.

Director John Polson is now well known as frequent director on television series such as 'Elementary', 'Blue Bloods', 'The Mentalist', 'The Good Wife', ' Without a Trace' etc. TENDERNESS is an early effort (2009) but the singe is evident. This little film slipped by everyone despite a strong cast – likely because the subject matter is rather difficult to swallow, especially as related by the time flips the picture takes in explaining the story.

Buffalo detective Lt. Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe), whose catatonic wife is in hospital, takes a special interest in Eric Komenko (an excellent Jon Foster!), a juvenile who killed his parents and will be freed on his 18th birthday. So has Lori Cranston (Sophie Traub), 15 or 16, her body fully developed and the object of lust by her boss and her mother's new boyfriend. She keeps a scrapbook about Eric, and when he's released from custody, she hides in the backseat of his car, insisting he take her with him on a trip toward Albany where he's planning to meet a girl. Cristofuoro is certain Eric will kill again, visits Eric's dead mother's sister Aunt Teresa (Laura Dern, excellent) with whom he lives since his release from Juvenile Hall, agrees with Cristofuoro's intuition and encourages him to pursue Eric in Albany. What happens on the trip to Albany – the disintegration of Eric's fragile sociopathic psyche and Lori's obsession with Eric's none too subtle need to kill leads to a surprising end. It is a film that deals with compulsions on every level and in every character – especially a self- destructive teen obsessed with a murderer, a young man obsessed with killing girls, and a weary detective obsessed with keeping the young man behind bars.

Jon Foster is the center of attention in the story and is supported the excellent work of Russell Crowe and Laura Dern. The supporting cast is strong. Serial killers continue to make an impact on writers, but this story takes a deeper look into the psyche of the main character, if not by words then more by body language.