Director Shona Auerbach clearly knows the recipe for a successful tearjerker. A disabled child, single mother, handsome stranger, kind-hearted grandma and abusive father can all be found in Dear Frankie - one of the year's most touching films.
Jack McElhone stars as Frankie, a deaf boy who lives with his mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer). To protect Frankie from the family's painful history, Lizzie tells him that his father is a sailor.
Posing as his father, she writes letters to Frankie, telling him of adventures at sea and places that the imaginary ship Accra has visited. When a real ship named Accra docks at the Scottish coastal city where they live, Lizzie hires a stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's father for a day.
Mortimer's dark eyes convey a wide range of emotions. But McElhone steals the show. He overcomes the limitation of having almost no dialogue with impressive facial expressions and body gestures.
The twist at the end is surprising and touching. The unconventional ending gives us room to think about the film's message: sometimes love and understanding, rather than the truth, matters more in life.
VERDICT: WE LOVE IT