Indie Film Spotlight - Dear Frankie

Film: Dear Frankie
Released: 2004
Director: Shona Auerbach
Writer: Andra Gibb
Starring: Emily Mortimer, Jack McElhone, Gerard Butler
Short Summary: When Lizzie responds to numerous letters her son Frankie has written to his absent father herself. Then she finds herself hiring a stranger to play Frankie's father when she is forced to produce the writer to these letters.

My Thoughts

I had heard of Dear Frankie before and I had wanted to watch it for a long while. It just so happened that I discovered it on Netflix last night. Yay!

I knew this film was going to be good but I found that it surpassed just being good. The movie has truly beautiful sea side locations and cinematography. It also has a lovely soundtrack. However, what I enjoyed most was the way the movie was written. It is a movie about a mother and son. As some of you might know I always find it interesting when this subject is explored in film. The relationship is particularly interesting in this film because it about a mother that will do almost anything to keep a son from his father. This gives the film a high level of mystery. I mean you get that Frankie's dad must be a nasty sort, but what you don't know is what could have possessed this woman to create such an elaborate lie. There is also a bit of mystery involved with the other characters in the film. I became totally immersed in the film because I wanted some of my questions to be answered. I loved how things were revealed, and I actually liked that some things were still a bit of a mystery in the end.

The actors and the director involved in Dear Frankie knew how to create moments that pull at the heart strings in a variety of ways. There are scenes that make you smile or bring you sadness. Sometimes you feel both happy and sad all at once. There are wonderful sections where there dialogue is full of subtext, or simple moments where characters are just looking at each other and you know what they are thinking. I love when actors can speak without words. It some ways this skill was particularly important for Jack McElhone who played Frankie, because he was playing a deaf child who quite literally didn't speak.

I completely adored this movie. It's the type of film I could see myself watching over and over. I definitely recommend checking Dear Frankie out.