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235 of 237 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful and powerful in its simplicity, March 13, 2005
Because DEAR FRANKIE is a limited release, many of us have to drive a while to find a theater that is showing it. The 25 mile drive I took was completely worth it.
Emily Mortimer plays Lizzie, who has been writing letters under the guise of her estranged husband to her deaf son, Frankie, for years. In writing the letters many things are accomplished. Frankie gets to feel like he has some contact with his dad and Lizzie gets to hear the innermost thoughts and wishes of her son through the letters she reads and answers.
When Lizzie, Frankie, and grandma Nell arrive in a new town, they befriend Marie. They also learn that the Accra--the ship on which Frankie thinks his dad lives--is docking near their town. With Marie's help, Lizzie encounters "The Stranger" and pays him to pretend to be Frankie's dad for one day.
Now I have seen a couple of critics find fault in casting Gerard Butler as The Stranger, thinking him too cold and gruff for the role. If these critics had watched the movie closer, they would've seen that the role called for gruffness at the beginning. However, Frankie has the same affect on The Stranger as he has on everyone else--making people want to be better and thawing out their chilly dispositions.
By the end of the movie everyone has learned something. Frankie has learned some truths through his mother and discovered others on his own. Lizzie learns to open up to others a little more. We learn who The Stranger actually is and, though we don't know anything about his past, we know that he has probably been emotionally shut down for a long time.
Like many, I went to see it because I wanted to see Gerard Butler, but I can honestly say that once the movie started (and he doesn't appear until about 45 minutes into the film) I was so engrossed in the story that the original reason didn't even exist anymore.
I have never seen Emily Mortimer in a film before (except her tiny part in Notting Hill,) but I was very impressed with the heart and realism that she brought to her role, as well as the actress who played her mother. Young Jack McElhone was especially impressive. You could see why his mother wanted to protect him so much and you could understand why The Stranger wanted to extend the time he spent with him.
Critic Roger Ebert mentioned a scene in a doorway with Lizzie and The Stranger. He talked about the way a powerful scene does not need a lot of dialogue. I watched especially for that scene and completely agreed with his comments on its profundity. This was a beautiful film and I'm so glad that I saw it. It was sweet, simple, real, and powerful in many ways. It was the kind of film that will stay with you for several days. That is what good film-making is all about and it is refreshing to see one as high quality as DEAR FRANKIE. Enjoy-
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106 of 110 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Film, April 12, 2005
Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), the single mother of a 9 year old deaf mute boy, Frankie (Jack McElhone), moves her family to a tiny family in Glasgow. Her mother, Nell (Mary Riggans) announces that if they move again, it will be the last time for her. As Frankie acclimates to his new school, his mom continues about her routine. She travels by bus to a post office box and retrieves the letters that Frankie writes to his dad, a sailor that has been traveling around the world for years. She writes the letters back to her son, pretending to be the long missing father, purchasing stamps from around the world, concocting fictional travels and making up the name of his father's boat. One day, Frankie learns that his father's boat is due to dock at the Port of Glasgow. Immediately, he has doubts that his father will even want to see him. Lizzie decides to try to hire someone to play his father. Her friend, and boss, Marie (Sharon Small) helps her find "Davey" (Gerard Butler, he also played the Phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera"). Davey is hired to spend one day with Frankie, `before he has to ship out again'. Growing attached to the boy, he offers to spend another day with mother and son.
"Dear Frankie", a new Scottish film directed by Shona Auerbach, is a really great little gem that you should definitely seek out. Playing at a handful of independent theaters, it will slowly roll out to the rest of the country. If you are unable to find it at a theater, catch the DVD when that is released.
The beauty of "Frankie" is that every character seems real, like someone you might meet on the streets of Glasgow. Emily Mortimer plays Lizzie as a young, single mom who has had a hard life. Her one joy is her son, who is very intelligent, but a deaf mute. Because of the circumstances or her life, which we slowly learn as we watch the film, Lizzie has become withdrawn and feels she can only rely on her mom and son. When she meets Marie, she is reluctant to begin a friendship. But Marie realizes that Lizzie needs the friendship and offers her a part time job at the local chip shop and helps her in other ways. Her mother is a woman that has had her equal share of hard times, but she is trying to get her daughter out of the funk she is living in while protecting them at the same time. Little Frankie is also played in a very natural way by Jack McElhone. In films, children tend to be too precocious or too `adult'. Frankie is neither. As we learn more about him, we see that he is intelligent, shy, interested in a girl in his class and easy to bait into bets by another young boy in his class. His very existence and the letter writing have ensured that he will have an active imagination. But his mother has also helped him develop a strong interest in sea life and all other aquatic areas. Naturally, a little boy who has never met his father but receives regular letters from him will do whatever he can to learn more about his father's world. The walls of Frankie's room are lined with hand drawn pictures of sea life, a map of the world with pins marking the locations of each of his father's letters and more.
The part of `Davey' is a difficult one to pull off. Butler brings an air of desperation to the character in the beginning. I mean, why else would a grown man agree to portray a kid's dad for a day, for probably 20 pounds, except that he is desperate for cash. As he spends time with Frankie, he realizes what a great kid he is. Thankfully, the emotions aren't `big' like they might be in a Hollywood film. He comes to this realization slowly. At the end of the day, when he asks Frankie and his mom to spend the next day with him, it makes sense. We believe that `Davey' has actually grown fond of Frankie.
The key to this film is that everything is believable and natural. Nothing is played for theatrics or over the top emotion.
As the film winds to it's natural climax, we begin to feel the emotion that the characters are feeling and this makes the story all the more powerful and moving.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
worth the search, May 9, 2005
Because Miramax saw fit to bury this movie and spend zero dollars on advertising, anyone who wanted to see it had to track it down. I didn't think I would get a chance to see it in a theater, but it finally came to a small theater 75 miles from me. My family and I made the trip and it was certainly worth it. From the wonderful, haunting piano music at the beginning to the final credits, it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. The story has been described elsewhere. I will just say that all the actors gave phenomenal performances. I had never seen Emily Mortimer before, but she was great. Gerard Butler has to be one of the most underrated actors today. He can express more with facial expressions and his eyes than most actors can with their whole bodies and loads of dialogue. The young actors were all good. I especially like Frankie's little girl friend. The Scottish locations were picturesque and evocative. Like I said, there are lots more accessible movies out there, but there are few that are worth the film they are printed on. Dear Frankie is heads and tails above most rubbish in the theaters today. Do yourself a favor and track it down. It is worth the trouble.
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