adapt from the short story and where be you go and where have you be and by joyce carol oates while this slow paced and moody film be for those who like introspective story where you spend a lot of the viewing time in self analysis rather than character identification . the mood be complement by a lot of james taylor on the soundtrack with handyman repeat several time . it be also one of those axe to grind film where fan of the short story feel compel to whine about the adaptation not be faithful to their interpretation of the book and although oates endorse it without reservation on her website . any non reader consider view smooth talk would be wise to remember the source when read negative comment from this group . to reach feature length it be necessary to expand on the short story and to dramatically depict event that be just briefly mention in the original version . everything be still tell from the point of view of 15 year old connie and increasingly estrange from her mother and marveling at her new found attractiveness to boys . fan of laura dern who have not see this should seek it out a she give an remarkable performance and arguably her all time best . perfectly cast physically a a gangly come of age teenager dern play connie with such restraint and awkward hesitancy that anyone with act for the camera aspiration should view this simply a a perfect example of the power that can be produce by underplay a character . the end be restrain a well and make it unexpectedly powerful and haunt . they go out with connie and her sister slowly dance to handyman and leave the viewer to process what have be show and what have be imply . then again and what do i know . i be only a child .