Customer Reviews

Frankie Starlight [VHS]

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Noel Pearson, who produced My Left Foot, is the man who also gives us the delightful Frankie Starlight, a movie based on the equally delightful book by Chet Raymo, The Dork of Cork. Frankie Starlight, like The Dork of Cork, is a story that encompasses love, life and sometimes, even miracles.

Set in post-World War II Ireland, Frankie Starlight is the story of Frankie and his beautiful French mother Bernadette. At the age of eighteen, Bernadette left France and traveled to Ireland, smuggled aboard an American ship. Once in Ireland, Bernadette gives birth to a son, Frankie. With the help of a customs officer, Jack Kelly, she is able to raise Frankie in Dublin.

Astronomy plays a big part in this movie as Jack teaches Frankie about the stars, instilling in the young boy a lasting obsession with the cosmos.

As an adult, Frankie writes a novel based on his love for astronomy and his mother's recollections of her long-past relationship with and ex-GI. Frankie's book is the catalyst that pulls him out of his life of isolation, and as it does, we learn just how his mother's exploits helped to shape Frankie's own life.

Although Raymo is a lecturer in astronomy at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, he spends every summer in Vantry, County Kerry, Ireland. His love for both Ireland and the stars is readily apparent in both the book and in the movie.

The story of Frankie Starlight spans thirty years and is set in France, Ireland and in the United States. It was shot on location in Ireland. The French village scenes were shot on a constructed village on a farm in County Kildare and the Normandy scenes on beaches on the eastern coast of Ireland.

The central character, Frank Bois, is played by Alan Pentony and Corban Walker. Pentony, who is from Drogheda, especially embodies qualities that make up the essence of Frank Bois: youth, warmth and friendly appeal.

Frankie's beautiful French mother is played by Anne Parillaud. Parillaud, who read the scrip, called and asked for the part. Coincidentally, Raymo used a photo of the lovely Parillaud as inspiration when writing Bernadette's scenes in The Dork of Cork.

Gabriel Byrne, who plays Jack Kelly said, after reading the script, "I thought it was very simply written. It was just one of the best things I had read in a long time."

Frankie Starlight is a magical movie, one filled with leprechauns and shamrocks and magic. The kind of magic that only the Irish can evoke, but the kind of magic that anyone can love.

There are very few films that are so well told, and uniquely and beautifully so, that when you come across one that touches you so tenderly, it will never leave you. I will never forget seeing this film, and will probably need to watch it a few more times in my lifetime. It's like a very good book, a familiar friend, that you greet again and again over the years, and remember after a brief moment. Pure peotry.

This is one of the great "unknowns" in the movie world: a great film seen by very few people. I'm still waiting for the DVD but not holding my breath. Thankfully, my VHS is still good. But like anything good, we'd like to share this with others and most people have never heard of this movie.

For those sensitive souls who enjoy a fascinating portrait of an unusual person or persons that is both sad and uplifting, this is your ticket. It has both, in spades.....a haunting film you can't forget. It's a tragic tale yet has a happy ending of sorts and leaves you feeling satisfied.

What it is, and I can't remember if it is based on real-life situation, is the story of a woman who has a dwarf for a son and what happens to the two of them, beginning in France, moving to Ireland, over to the United States and then back to Ireland.

Along the way, the mother, played so sadly by French actress Anne Parillaud (the original La Femme Nikita), gets involved with two men: Gabriel Byrne and Matt Dillon. All three of these adults are really interesting, likable people, but nothing like the dwarf, who is played magnificently by two actors. Alan Pentony plays "Frankie" has a child and a more lovable kid would be hard to find. Corbin Walker does a great job of playing the adult "Frankie." Trust me: you will not forget either of them.

Walker narrates the film, telling it mostly in flashback style, from his best-selling book. In addition to his mom and the two father-figures in his life, is a short story of Frankie's love affair with astronomy and the stars, hence "Frankie Starlight."

The only profane character in the movie is the book publisher who has two short scenes. That, and two quick sex scenes, give it the "R" rating. Otherwise, this is wonderful old-fashioned storytelling, the kind that makes you really care about the characters.

This is one of the sweetest films I have ever seen. It's main character, Frankie Bois, is incredibly endearing. I wanted to give him a big hug. The cast is amazing with the great Gabriel Byrne and Matt Dillon. I just loved this movie. It calls out to your heart and soul. It was just great. Also, set in Ireland which makes it all the better. END

This is one of my longtime favorite movies...it is poignant, inspiring, and heart-warming.

In the beginning, the movie is set in WWII France, in Bernadette's hometown. Bernadette (Anne Parillud) has some sort of ESP-type thing going on and frequently spooks the neighbors with her pronouncements. After predicting "the war will end tomorrow" some local lads are encouraged to vandalize the local Nazi vehicles. These boys wind up on the local beach to await American forces and freedom but are killed by a mine they begin playing with which has floated up on the beach. Bernadette witnesses the explosion and runs back to the town only to find her family and friends lined up in the town square being interrogated by the Nazis who are still very much in control. After killing many people, including Bernadette's parents, the Nazis flee as the US occupation forces triumphantly ride into town. Bernadette's premonition was right but a bit late for her parents and neighbors.

She and another girl steal away on an American Navy Ship, exchanging sexual favors for a ride to America and food from the sailors. They are caught and turned over to the authorities in Ireland, where Bernadette meets Jack (Gabriel Byrnes), the Irish Navy immigration man assigned to repatriate the stowaways. She escapes into Cork and begins a life, soon discovering she is pregnant. Jack sees her on the street and follows her to try and help her. Though his intentions were good, and he has a wife and several daughters, soon they begin an affair.

When the baby is born, we find out he is a Little Person, just as one of her relatives' child was back in France. Jack takes Frankie under his wing and teaches him all about the stars and the heavens. He is a surrogate father to the boy and provides extra food and necessities for Bernadette and Frankie, as well. Jack is followed by one of his daughters and she finds out about the affair, which causes the girl to have a mental breakdown. When everything is discovered, Jack and his family relocate and Frankie is deprived of Jack's love and male companionship.

Life goes on for them and one day an American soldier, Terry, who was on the ship, shows up at the door, looking for Bernadette. He was not a participant in the sexual "use" made of Bernadette but always remembered how beautiful she was and how sad it made him to see a young girl treated that way. He has been dumped by his American wife and enters into a love affair w/ Bernadette and becomes the new man in Frankie's life. He encourages them to come to America w/ him where he plans to marry Bernadette and adopt Frankie.

This is nowhere near the end, but I'm afraid of giving anymore away about the movie. It really needs to be experienced personally.

It plays on IFC channel and/or Sundance occasionally, and that is the only way to see it unless you can find and chose to buy a VHS tape! When, oh when, are we going to be allowed to get this on DVD in Region I ??? I wish I knew! I just keep coming back to this place on Amazon and hoping...maybe one day?

The soundtrack is incredible and you'll find yourself humming that haunting chord long after the movie. The movie is kinda sad though - the contrast between the life of the main character as a child and the life he lives as an adult is stark. Each time I see the movie, I always wonder why his mother chose to leave the USA and go back to Ireland. The scene when they arrive back in Dublin and to the apartment they used live in after the freedom they experience in the US makes me want to leave my apt and drive somewhere! I typically don't like Irish movies but this one is good