Rudderless

RUDDERLESS plucks from the headlines a tragic and all-too-painful story and explores what happens when parents experience the worst and have their hearts torn to bits. The actors are what make the film so watchable -- especially Crudup; Sam's grief is physically manifested in gestures as economical as a shrug. He's fantastic with Yelchin, who plays the boy who rescues Sam from his dense fog with empathy and companionship, especially in their musical interludes (both actors seem so comfortable with their guitars that they might as well be musicians). Crudup is also great with Felicity Huffman, who plays Sam's equally mournful ew-wife.

William H. Macy, who makes his directorial debut with Rudderless and has a cameo as a bar owner, keeps an easy but still fairly tight hold on the reins. But he doesn't paint a three-dimensional picture of Josh, whose death somewhat anchors the story. For that matter, Sam still feels amorphous: What kind of dad was he before that fateful day? What kind of mom was his wife? How can the audience care about who they've become after such profound loss if they don't know who they are as parents in the first place? But the story is still moving -- and sobering, too. And not so easy to forget.