And here’s why: The trailer offers a moment when a young Japanese girl (Shannon Mahina Gorman) not only overcomes her initial discomfort with her pretend daddy (Brendan Fraser) but rests her head on his shoulder. And then Fraser makes a typical actor’s mistake by looking at Gorman. I hate “looks” in tender scenes of this sort.
Let it in and feel it deep down, of course, but don’t fucking act it.
Sentimental Value has no emotional actorish “looks” at all. Every moment, every conveyance feels steady and bottom-line real.