The Wool Cap (TV) (2004)

William H. Macy co-writes and stars as a broken man bereft of love, family, and his very voice in a made-for-TV film based on an original story by the legendary Jackie Gleason. Gigot (Macy) is a mute war veteran who lost his vocal cords in a tragic car accident that killed his sister. Wracked by guilt and grief, Gigot cut all ties with his family to live a life of self-imposed exile as the superintendent for a rundown, inner-city tenement. After 28 years of emotional solitude, Gigot's lonely existence is shattered by the arrival of Lou (Keke Palmer), a spunky but troubled 12-year-old whose drug-addict mother has abandoned her. At first wary of each other, the two unlikely roommates forge a genuinely touching bond that blossoms into a father-daughter relationship and prompts Gigot to make amends with his own estranged family. Warm and uplifting without caving in to sentimentality, The Wool Cap is a poignant character study of two damaged souls offering each other a shot at healing and redemption. Ned Beatty, Catherine O'Hara, and Don Rickles offer fine supporting roles, and newcomer Palmer displays a knowing maturity that belies her young age, but the film belongs to the always brilliant Macy, who turns in a stellar performance that conveys layers of emotional depth without ever saying a word.