Beautifully acted by a cast including William Hurt and a pre-stardom Kristen Stewart — as well as gorgeously photographed — “The Yellow Handkerchief” is a captivating film loosely based on a Pete Hamill column that appeared in this newspaper in 1971.
Hurt gives arguably his best performance since the Oscar-winning “Kiss of the Spider Woman” as Brett, an ex-convict who makes his way across post-Katrina Louisiana after spending six years in the penitentiary for manslaughter.
A storm forces Brett to share a convertible and sleeping quarters with Martine (Stewart) and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), two teenagers he encounters during a ferry crossing. The awkward Gordy is eager to know flirtatious Martine much better, but the moody aspiring dancer is wary of her loquacious suitor because of a recent romantic experience.
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She’d much rather hear about Brett’s life — secrets that the balding blue-collar worker slowly gives up as the trio rides south towards New Orleans. As seen in a series of flashbacks, they revolve around his tumultuous relationship with May (Maria Bello), which ended in anger and violence.
Brett is hoping May will still have him — and the film’s title refers to a sign he asks for in a letter.
First, he imparts his hard-won wisdom on his young companions — who, it turns out, have a thing or two to teach the middle-aged ex-convict.
Stories about people yearning for second chances in life have a way of turning schmaltzy in American movies. In other hands, this movie could very easily have been the cinematic equivalent of the old Tony Orlando song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree.”
But Erin Dignam’s episodic script, brimming with humor and honest emotion — and the pitch-perfect direction of Udayan Prasad (“My Son the Fantatic”) thankfully avoids manipulating the audience at every turn.
Hurt goes out of his way to not overtly court our sympathy in a very subtle performance. We see his hurt largely through the eyes of his traveling companions. Stewart, who made this film when she was 15 — before “Twilight” — shows star presence in a very tricky part that requires her to demonstrate her character’s unhappiness at home in a non-clichéd manner.
The cocky but vulnerable Gordy is well played by Redmayne, a charismatic British actor best known for his portrayal of a murderous socialite in “Savage Grace.” Bello, who appeared with Hurt in “A History of Violence” is sexy and volatile in a relatively small but crucial role of Brett’s love.
Louisiana — as photographed by one of the greatest living cinematographers, Chris Menges (“The Killing Fields”) — is also a crucial character in the movie, which slowly unfolds on bayous and in the abandoned homes and businesses where the travelers take refuge.
Hamill’s original story, in fact, took place on a bus to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and it previously inspired a 1977 Japanese movie that carried same title in English. “The Yellow Handkerchief” tells a timeless fable, and tells it extremely well.
lou.lumenick@nypost.com