Cinema surveillance images are loading at the bottom of the page

Dear Frankie - Emily Mortimer, Gerard Butler, Jack McElhone, Shona Auerbach

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Nine-year-old Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his single mum, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie, writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real ship arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's father for just one day.

Persons of interest

Emily Mortimer .... Lizzie Morrison
Gerard Butler .... The Stranger
Jack McElhone .... Frankie Morrison
Sharon Small .... Marie
Mary Riggans .... Nell Morrison
Sean Brown .... Ricky Munroe
Jayd Johnson .... Catriona Murray
John Kazek .... Ally
Katy Murphy .... Miss MacKenzie
Anna Hepburn .... Mrs Wallace
Cal Macaninch .... Davey Morrison
Anne Marie Timoney .... Janet
Andrea Gibb .... Screenwriter
Shona Auerbach .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Dear Frankie official movie site
Dear Frankie film production notes
Dear Frankie QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 2004: Nominated: Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer (Shona Auerbach)
Cannes Film Festival 2004: Un certain regard
São Paulo International Film Festival 2004: New filmmakers competition
Seattle International Film Festival 2004: Won: Women in Cinema Lena Sharpe Award (Shona Auerbach)

See also Since Otar left (Depuis qu'Otar est parti)
Studios and distributors:

Buena Vista International

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Ahhh... Dear Frankie is such a well-written film that all you can do is drift with the current, letting it take you wherever it wends. [Enough with the crap metaphors - Director of Intelligence.] It makes a good companion piece to Young Adam - which features many of the same cast and crew - as both films present life in Scotland at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, where family can bind you together as much as it tears you apart.

Jack McElhone is perfectly cast as the eponymous Frankie (innocent yet worldly) while Gerard Butler is the perfect father (tall, strong, handsome, loving, safe). The females are good, too. Oh, look... just watch it.