Dear Frankie

Emily Mortimer stars in Dear Frankie as Lizzie, the single mother of the a 9 year old title character. Frankie (played by Jack McElhone) is deaf, and he doesn't have a dad around. He's a sailor currently at sea on board of the ACCRA. Frankie writes to him, and answers from all over the world telling about the places he visits. It's been like this ever since Frankie can remember, as his dad has never been back to visit him.
Soon we learn that there is no sailor dad, and instead is Lizzie the one that receives Frankie's letters and writes back as if she were his dad. They are currently living in a small town in Scotland, and they've been in the run from Frankie's dad for a long time, a man who used to hit Lizzie and he's the one that left Frankie deaf, "a gift from his daddy", as Lizzie says at one point. But Frankie doesn't know any of this. He's just a boy moving with his mom and grandmother (played by Mary Riggans) all the time, but he's happy with communicating with his dad via mail.
Problems for Lizzie start soon, as Frankie learns from a school friend that the ACCRA is arriving in a couple of days, and his friend even bets him money that his dad wont come home to visit him, so Lizzie deals with what to do, finally going with the idea of finding a stranger that would pose as Frankie's dad. Lizzie's friend Mary (Sharon Small) is the one that finds her the stranger (played by Gerard Butler), and Frankie gets a dad for a few days.

The story is very predictable, using the formula of the stranger getting to know the family and finally falling in love with them, but there are a few subplots regarding Frankie's real dad, and the story doesn't finally go where it usually goes.

The acting is excellent from all the actors, with Emily Mortimer being note perfect. Being such an emotional movie, her character cries and is angry and so many more feelings, but Frankie is deaf, so she also has communicate all these feelings with the use of the sign language, so we have some really powerful scenes of her crying and doing the signs at the same time. Jack McElhone is also great, playing the innocent and sweet Frankie. He and Gerard Butler have some great and touching moments playing games and being a dad and his son.

Directed by Shona Auerbach and written Andrea Gibb, and also possessing a superb score highlighted by Damien Rice's "Delicate" in the closing credits, Dear Frankie is a very emotional drama with such great acting from all these great British actors. A must see for those not afraid to cry.