Ginger & Rosa (12A)
HH
Dir: Sally Potter
With: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks
Runtime: 89 minutes
FOR a terribly pukka British story, Sally Potter's drama ain't half packed with our American cousins.
Among those getting a chance to roll some marbles in their mouths are Elle Fanning, seen recently in We Bought a Zoo, and Christina Hendricks, who shows here that playing the magnificently upholstered Joan in Mad Men is just the start of her talents.
Ginger and Rosa (Fanning and Alice Englert) have been best pals all their lives. Now teenagers and standing in the doorway of a new era, they are testing everything from boundaries to their parents' patience. As they do so, the friends begin to adopt different interests and pull apart, Ginger becoming obsessed with banning the bomb and Rosa fwith alling in love.
Potter, who made her name with Orlando, has a fine eye for period detail, and her 1960s reeks of joss sticks and radical politics. It's a pity the story isn't as lively or as sharp-eyed. For long stretches, Ginger and Rosa is a gabby, mannered, theatrical piece which doesn't know if it wants to be Pinter or Mike Leigh and ends up like some middle-class kitchen-sink drama instead.
Amid long spells of dreariness, it is Hendricks who stands out as Ginger's frustrated mother, a woman desperately trying to find a place in these daring new times.
Worth seeing for Hendricks's performance, otherwise stay home with the Mad Men box set.
Frankenweenie (PG)
HHHH
Dir: Tim Burton
Voices: Martin Landau, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder
Runtime: 86 minutes
TIM Burton's electrifying tale is an early Halloween trick or treat for all the family.
The treats include the sumptuous animation, an A-list voice cast that ranges from Martin Landau to Catherine O'Hara, and the fabulously engaging characters, with a mutt called Sparky chief among them.
The trick lies in Burton's ability to take what is on the surface a bleak story and conjure up something that fizzes with laughter and life.
Set in a monochrome America bathed in 1950s simplicity, Burton's picture references many a monster movie from that era. While a billet doux to the genre, at heart this is a love story about a boy and his dog. Young Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) is a lonely, shy child. Sparky is his pal, the one he turns to first and last. The two are inseparable, until fate has other ideas.
Frankenweenie, which began life as a 1984 short, is a Disney film, and the director of Beetlejuice shows himself to be just as ruthless as the creators of Bambi and Dumbo when it comes to generating a lump in the throat. Dog lovers, it ought to go without saying, should wear a waterproof anorak.
Tears will flow, but there are plenty of laughs too. Like many a Burton film, Frankenweenie celebrates difference, showing that it takes all kinds to make a world work.
This is some weird science, Burton-style, but it works devilishly well.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article