By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shona Auerbach
Starring: Emily Mortimer | Gerard Butler | Jack McElhone | Mary Riggans
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2005
Running time: 105
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377752/combined
Bruce says: “Pulling your heartstrings from every conceivable direction, DEAR FRANKIE is unabashedly sentimental. Just when you think that one more heartbreaking moment will be absolutely unbearable the film takes some turns that give pause to wonder why you had to suffer sentiment for so long.
“Frankie (Jack McElhone) is deaf and fatherless. His mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) and grandmother move around mysteriously from one location to another. For several years Frankie has been corresponding with his father who is aboard the ACCRA, a merchant marine ship that travels around the world. When a classmate, a nasty piece of work named Ricky, notices that the ACCRA will soon dock in Glasgow, he challenges Frankie to prove that he really has a father. Frankie is justifiably excited about the ship’s visit. Frankie’s mother is not so happy to hear the news – it is she who has been writing the letters to Frankie, using a fake post office box to receive mail that is supposed to be delivered to the ship.
“Marie, a friend of Lizzie’s, suggests that Marie hire a sailor to pretend he is Frankie’s father. So a stranger (Gerard Butler) appears at the door. Gruff and uncommunicative at first he slowly grows fond of Frankie as the day progresses. He decides that he wants to spend a second day with Frankie. Or is it Lizzie that he really wants to see more of?
“Emily Mortimer (LOVELY & AMAZING, BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS, MATCH POINT) plays her role as a woman beaten down beyond the hope of recovery. She employs a heavy-handedness that is too extreme for the part. Gerard Butler fares a bit better for he registers emotional changes that seem genuine. Frankie is quite loveable as a kid who engages his imagination to get past life’s misfortunes. 3 cats”