The Yellow Handkerchief (2010)

Kristen Stewart (now a teen star thanks to the Twilight series, but known to me through 'Cake Eaters', which I loved)--she plays Martine, a 15-year-old Louisiana girl, who is itching to grow up and get away from her family. One day, Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), an odd boy (Aspberger's?  Very shy and slightly awkward?  Hard to tell) a few years older, spots her in a diner and tries to pick her up by inviting her for a ride; she resists until Brett (William Hurt), a similarly odd and dysphoric man in his 50's, agrees to come along. She’s clearly more romantically interested in the geezer, but he wisely resists, and cautions her on her lack in prudence in the choices she has made on the trip.
Hurt's wisdom has been earned--although he doesn;t seem to know quite what to do with it at time.  He is fresh out of prison after serving a six-year sentence for manslaughter (anothe rof my recent favorite's, 'Snow Cake', starts out with this premise as well--good man goes to prison for poor choices and gets out not totally screwed up). Already taciturn by nature, Brett discreetly doesn’t tell the kids his background at first. Plus, he’s too distracted by his own issues, mostly whether to try to pick up the pieces of his old life or start fresh, and if he does that, why would he do it.  He didn't value it appropriately to begin with, and so, what has changed.  That is a tough one.
Thanks to one road misfortune after another, this afternoon outing stretches into several days, during which bits of history are exchanged, bonding inevitably occurs, and our perspective on all three characters shifts.
This familiar dramatic contrivance – “Alienated strangers who seem to have nothing in common are forced together on a journey and become a sort of ersatz family” – has been the basis of scores of films, from “The Wizard of Oz” to 'Lucia, Lucia" and most recently "Due Date".  It’s no wonder it crops up so often: The journey provides structure, and the forced intimacy provides concentrated character development. On top of that, anyone who’s spent time on the road has experienced some iteration of it. This one is bittersweet, and leaves a lot of loose ends unanswered, but is a good portrayal of a man's difficulty with intimacy.