Dear Frankie

Frankie is nine, deaf, and moves from town to town with his mother. He writes letters to his father, who he knows works on a ship and travels the world. The person answering those letters is his mother, Lizzie. Then the ship Frankie believes his father serves on actually docks in their town, and Lizzie hires a stranger to play the father for a day. Shona Auerbach directs and shot it herself, in her first feature. Emily Mortimer plays Lizzie, Gerard Butler the stranger, Jack McElhone plays Frankie. The real subject is not the lie but protection. Why Lizzie writes these letters only becomes clear slowly, and the reason is not romantic. There is something they are running from. Auerbach's background as a cinematographer shows. Greenock in Scotland is cold, grey and on the water; the palette is deliberately narrow, and the emotional lift comes from light rather than from music. Butler's character barely speaks. He is never even named, and that vagueness is the film's best decision. It screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2004. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet British and Scottish drama and films about parents and children. Who it is not for: the emotional register is sometimes too soft and the last section goes where you expect. If you want a surprise there is none.