Dear Frankie (2004)

            This UK-Scottish film, set in Glasgow, is a testimony to the fact that innovation can still reveal something new in story telling.  It uses a mother, child and a stranger in a triad to touch us with the kind of gentle emotions missing from most screenplays.  And it's the director's sensitive and subtle work with the actors, the story and the camera that turns this into a unified slice of life.

            For me, the theme was about how much we belong to our children.  The focus of the story is Frankie, a 9-1/2 year old deaf boy in the fifth grade whose only contact with his sea-going father is by mail.  But the father is really absent and his mother is sending him fake letters.  This becomes the problem that provides the dramatic motivation for the storyline and eventually the need to hire a "stranger" to play "Daddy."

The director does not exploit sentimentality excessively ... maybe just a little.  She doesn't need to because there is plenty of natural emotion attached to the mother-child relationship.  Furthermore, the intensity seems to ratchet up when the hired "Daddy" arrives.

The screenplay does contain one minor plot manipulation involving the stranger, but it's not serious enough to detract from the story.  Overall, I was impressed.  This was a decent and realistic vignette, well acted and directed with professional sensitivity.

Emily Mortimer plays Lizzie, the Mom.  She was overly innocent, somewhat foolish and volatile, but it fit the role.  Jack McElhone plays Frankie and he was pretty amazing considering it's his second film.  The support roles of the stranger and Emily's mom by Gerard Butler, Mary Riggans and Marie were excellent.  The scenes when Frankie meets the stranger and when the stranger learns about Frankie's deafness are incredible screen moments.  Riggans is wonderful with her suspicions of the stranger.  Sharon Small plays Marie, a shop owner who employs Lizzie.  Small is an accomplished actress, born in Glasgow, whose work has been primarily in television as D.S. Havers, a lead role in the Inspector Lynley mysteries on PBS.

It's worth watching the DVD Special Features segment called The Story of Frankie.  The actors and filmmakers discuss what they were trying to accomplish in the story.

I also recommend using captions since the Scottish brogue is occasionally too thick to understand.  The hearing impaired captions also give you the song titles and lyrics.

Reviewed August 19, 2005                            Copyright 2005 Charles T. Markee

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for language.