Just about perfect.
"Dear Frankie" is just about the perfect movie: completely absorbing, unusual plot, excellent acting by all and a romantic lead who surpasses Mr. Darcy.
This is the story of deaf boy Frankie (winningly played by Jack McElhone) whose mother, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) writes letters to him supposedly by his father, but written by her to alleviate the lack of a second parent. So the story unfolds, and does so at a good pace, with new insights in almost every scene. Forced by circumstances to find a real live man to play Frankie's father for a day, into the film comes the ultimate leading man, The Stranger, played by charismatic Gerard Butler. Mary Riggans playing Nell, the grandmother steals a few of the scenes, and Sean Brown is so believeable as the sly, sneaky schoolfriend, that he steals a couple of scenes himself.
What a relief to find a film that doesn't rush, that doesn't fracture the mood with intrusive music, that allows itself to unfold and charm.
It's a classic.