"The Tender Bar" (2021) Directed by George Clooney #benaffleck #georgeclooney

“When you’re 11 years old, everyone needs an Uncle Charlie”, so says the youngest of the three inhabitants of the “JR” character in this beautiful film, and it’s quite the performance from someone so young, and in his debut feature length film performance from Daniel Ranieri. Director Clooney forever frames and focusses in on Ranieri’s eyes and even alongside his cinematic Uncle in the guise of Ben Affleck, Ranieri is just incredible. Affleck takes somewhat of a backseat in the middle of the film but before and after is the brilliant inhabitant of the pivotal “Uncle Charlie” role and somewhat role model for his much younger nephew. Charlie surrounds himself in both his own hard worked for self education (as he masks his loquacious tongue with a fast talking New York bartender/wise guy exterior) and with a love of books both at the cramped home he shares with JR and the huge gaggle of extended family, and behind him on the shelves of the “Dickens Bar” he proudly manages. Directing his young protégé to a cupboard filled with books Charlie states emphatically “If you read enough books, maybe, if you’re lucky, you could become a writer” and with a supportive if overly emotional “Mom” (Lily Rabe) behind him, JR is going to Harvard or Yale and will become whatever he dreams to be.

The above paragraph is taken from my spoiler free review of "The Tender Bar" I originally penned and published to my Medium blog site on 25th September 2022 and which can be read in full and for free via my Substack blog site linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/the-tender-bar-2021-fb6f8034684

This review also forms part of my 7 volumes of "essential film reviews collection" (£4.49 per volume) or all 7 volumes can be read for free should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C4HZSTTH?ref_=dbs_p_pwh_rwt_anx_a_lnk&storeType=ebooks

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