Manglehorn

Al Pacino teams up with director David Gordon Green for this slender character study that is tinged with a touch of homespun magic realism. Pacino is mostly successfully in keeping his boisterous, booming personality in check as the title character: an aging, emotionally withdrawn locksmith in a Texas town, who has grieved for decades after his unwillingness to commit drove away the one woman he ever truly loved. Manglehorn still pines for his lost love, writing her long letters (read by Pacino in voiceover) that are always returned to his mailbox unopened. He's also estranged from his investment broker son, and his only real connections lie with his granddaughter, his beloved cat Fanny, and a sunny bank teller named Dawn (Holly Hunter), with whom he chats amiably while making deposits. Green skillfully creates a mood of elegiac loneliness and regret as he follows Manglehorn ambling about town or caring for Fanny, who has stopped eating. But he also inserts dreamlike bits to create a vaguely otherworldly atmosphere. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, the narrative trajectory grows increasingly obvious, and the symbolism of locks and keys is brought home with sledgehammer force. Nevertheless, Manglehorn demonstrates that Pacino is still capable of restrained, affecting acting, and that Green remains a sensitive observer of small-town mores. An evocative if also flawed film, this is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)