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The Yellow Handkerchief

The Yellow Handkerchief

Drama · Romance · 2009

A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness.

Movie details

The Yellow Handkerchief

“A love lost in the past. A love struggling for a future.”

2009 Drama · Romance 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Yellow Handkerchief?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Ali and Nino

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Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.

Nine Lives

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The Man from Elysian Fields

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John and Mary

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Endless Love

Endless Love

Drama · 2014

A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.

Salome

Salome

Drama · 1953

In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Udayan Prasad

Written by

Erin Dignam · Pete Hamill

William Hurt

William Hurt

Brett Hanson

Maria Bello

Maria Bello

May

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart

Martine

Eddie Redmayne

Eddie Redmayne

Gordy

Kaori Momoi

Kaori Momoi

Motel Owner

Emanuel Cohn

Emanuel Cohn

Doctor Leonard

N

Nurith Cohn

Female Nurse

Court is in session

Put The Yellow Handkerchief on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.