Small movie is perfect for the have a good cry crowd.
A deaf child without a father, a cashed-strapped mother without a life partner and a grandmother who’s learned a thing or two in life. In comes the potential father figure who may look tough on the surface but he ends up not only saying but doing the right thing. If you take Miramax Film’s track-record of syrupy films into account, this directorial debut from Shona Auerbach has all the probable danger signs of being yet another overly pretentious, faux tearjerker-fest, but surprisingly enough; the film effortlessly generates that warm, cozy feeling without overdoing the sentimental factor.
Dear Frankie is not only stamped as a feel good, very believable drama but it is also tattooed with everything Scottish from the fish and chips to postcard port town views and very thick accents. Young Frankie is competently played by young actor Jack McElhone (Young Adam), his character is interestingly provided with a voice even though he is a mute. By way of narration the young boy reads in a wise-beyond-his-years language, the more letters that pop up, the more increasingly gushier the film gets. More interesting are the various degrees of reaction shots of the person receiving those return letters – a mother (Emily Mortimer also from Young Adam) who will go to the end of the world to protect her son from the truth he is film’s source for a gushingly angst heart. Mortimer is probably the best domestic import from the U.K after Samantha Morton; here Mortimer provides an authentic face of compounded sense of guilt. Ultimately, the story is about finding a man to do the job, and actor Gerard Butler (Timeline) delivers the goods as a mysterious, god-sent stranger.
Straying away from a convoluted ending – Auerbach keeps it simple, she knows how to fill her text with feel good moments and when to pull back, though this is one film where I would have preferred not to hear the piano bars from Arvo Part’s piece excellently featured in the (Gerry) soundtrack. With a background in photography, Auerbach also acts as the film’s cinematography – she matches the emotional tones of the film with the primary colors of the film’s locations. Dear Frankie is the sort of inoffensive film that forgoes the traditional saturated route – its good because it sticks to basics, it unwraps a couple of good presents along the way which feel natural and the film’s author is compassionate about the characters.
(Montreal World Film Festival)
