Brian Dennehy’s Final Performance Is a Deeply Moving Tearjerker: Your Weekly Roundup of New Movies

What to see and skip while streaming this week.

Driveways

**** Gentle and touching, the second feature from Korean American director Andrew Ahn is a warm embrace of a movie when we need it most. This low-key drama works as an examination of how small acts of kindness can result in great rewards, and provides a coda to Brian Dennehy's rich career following the actor's death last month. He plays Del, a Korean War veteran and widower who is perfectly content spending his final days on the front porch watching shadows dance on his driveway as life passes by until a single mother, Kathy (Hong Chau), and her 8-year-old son, Cody (Lucas Jaye), arrive next door. Kathy is there to clean out her dead sister's home and get it ready to place on the market. That leads to an unlikely yet touching bond between the old man and the child, who desperately needs a friend and a father-figure. While mismatched buddies are a common trope in indie pictures, Ahn gives Cody and Del texture, and the actors flesh out their roles with stellar subdued depictions. "I wish I took the time to take a good look at stuff," Del explains in a tear-jerking monologue in which he shares life advice with the boy. He's talking about relishing what's in front of you before it's gone, a kernel of wisdom for those watching Dennehy's final, deeply moving performance. NR. ASHER LUBERTO. Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube.

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