The Tender Bar

The Tender Bar (2021)

Directed by: George Clooney
Screenplay by: William Monahan
Based on a memoir by J. R. Moehringer
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

I'm a huge fan of the personal cinema, where the films have a deep sense of self within. I used to think that a deeply personal film could only be made by an auteur. But here, we see a film that is based on someone's memoir, adapted into a screenplay by someone else and directed by someone else. This instills hope that collaboration could also lead to deeply personal cinema. Perhaps, it's placebo effect sometimes, where if you know that a film has been written and directed by someone, based on their own experiences, it automatically starts seeming more authentic. This film is a beautiful story of a writer, about his childhood, his fractured family, an uncle whom he finds a father figure in, and it's also a story of ups and downs, and it's the most inspiring film I've seen in a while. 

My favorite scene in the film is where the kid talks to his older alcoholic self, and says, 'Just go to sleep, wake up after 20 years and tell people what you could've been'. It's such an inspiring line. That is what happens, we all go to sleep, either by being in the rut, by doing something we hate, or by telling ourselves and everyone else that we are busy, when we ourselves don't have a clue about what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Let's wake up! The modern world and especially parts of the woke culture has so many ways to put us to sleep - the lifestyle, alcohol, food, a sense of contentment for no reason, a feeling of acceptance for mediocrity, "self love". This film inspires you to wake up and do what you love with your everything, and it's extremely subtle. It's not chest thumping music, with a base voice saying motivational quotes. The film simply sits back and tells you that life can go on without you as well, and it's very easy for you to end up like a nobody, and perhaps all of us are going to be nobodies. If you want to become something, get on your ass and do something about it.