Ginger & Rosa (2013)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

From independent film director Sally Potter comes this small tale about friendship in the early 1960s as the world is heading towards the Cuban missile crisis. Ginger & Rosa is about two teenage girls growing up together. Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert), are 17 years old both on the verge of entering adulthood but having fun together, discussing religion, politics, playing truant and jumping in cars with boys.Ginger though is facing a personal crisis. Her parents have separated, her bohemian and free thinking father might be a womanizer and the dangers in the world is causing her to be filled with dread. Ginger gets involved with the nuclear disarmament movement and her relationship with Rosa enters an upheaval that threatens to shatter both families.The film starts interestingly enough especially with the casting which for a tale set in Britain has rather a lot of American actors such as Oliver Platt, Annette Bening, Christina Hendricks and Fanning who is excellent. Englert herself is Australian but the tale gets dull rather quickly and only livens up at the end. Just as the film gets interesting and the actors elevate the drama it finishes.

Elle Fanning gives another fantastic performance, and she is definitely an up and coming star. Unfortunately, her performance is wasted on a film where very, very little happens in almost an hour and a half. I'm not expecting to see "Iron Man" and cars blowing up, but I am expecting to see a storyline. This film reminded me of "The Holy Girl" from 2005, in that both films could have been perhaps 45 minutes in length, and that would have been more than enough time to tell the story without feeling rushed. I really try to use critic reviews on websites like MetaCritic for guidance on what to see, and when I see critics say how magnificent this film is, they really should be sued for malpractice.

The most amazing thing about this film is the interview with Elle Fanning amongst the extras on the DVD. (People who saw the film in the cinema will not have seen it, of course.) Fanning seems to have been acting since before she was in the womb, and being in front of cameras for her is as familiar as being surrounded by curious crowds must be to performing dolphins in an aquarium. As someone who has been on display all her life (she is now 16), Fanning appears not to have the slightest trace of vanity and is unfazed. In the interview, she seems to be as innocent and good as if she were an angel who had been sitting on the side of Heaven admiring the view, fell off, and landed down here by mistake, and is making the best of it. Everybody loves not only working with her but even being in the same room with her. Now how rare is that? In this film she gives a powerful and mature performance, despite being only 15 at the time. This is a Sally Potter film, so that it means it is going to be unusual. Sally Potter is an absolute perfectionist. She gets some quirky idea and then bites into it like a bulldog and does not release it until it is perfectly executed. She appears to be an obstinate person, and I wish she had less weird ideas for films. But once we accept that the film is about whatever it is about, we can be certain that it will be exquisitely made, in other words a pure masterpiece of Potterism. Potter, being a woman, has the capacity for deep and profound rapport with her actors and her crew, and they all love her. That is how she gets such spectacular technical results, performances which are classic, camera work and editing which are magnificent, and everything clicks. I love watching and listening to the tango, but I found her tango film THE TANGO LESSON (1997) somewhat irritating because of her quirkiness and her peculiar angle on things. She is far from being an ordinary person. I wish she were 5% more ordinary, whereas with most people I wish they were 95% more weird. That shows how dissatisfied I am with the underlying conceptions she sometimes comes up with, whilst being full of admiration of how she realizes them. I would like to sit down with her, hold her hand reassuringly, and say to her: 'Now, look here, Sally …' But having said all that by way of prelude, I must go on to say that this film is marvellous as a film, and something for all to be proud of. The camera-work by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, so much of which is hand-held, is spectacular, which greatly adds to the effectiveness of this intense and personal work. Together, the director and cinematographer managed incredible intimacy in the presentation of this sensitive tale. Supporting roles are well carried out by four famous actors, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall, Jodhi May, and the amazing Annete Bening (see my review of BEING JULIA, 2004, where I describe her performance as miraculous), all clearly drawn to the project by Potter's creative reputation and renowned rapport with actors. As Fanning's best friend Rosa, Alice Englert does a wonderful job in the second lead role, which is her first major film appearance. It is no surprise that having done so well, she has gone on to play leads in three new films in quick succession, and we will certainly be seeing a lot more of her, as she is talented, dynamic, and sensuous. Perhaps she takes so naturally to film acting because she is the daughter of the famous director Jane Campion, and her father also was in the film business but seems to have left it in 1996, except to produce a short in 2004. It often makes a difference to be brought up in a family where there is no fear of the camera and making movies is looked upon as a normal occupation. One must also praise the editing of this film by Anders Refn, and once again the closeness of the cooperation between the editor and the director in turning out this flawless realization of Potter's vision. I live in hope that a woman of such talent will one day have a vision more sympathetic to my own interests and inclinations, but that of course is merely my subjective view and has no objective validity. Hence, don't listen to me if I grumble, or take it as any ill reflection upon this film, which is what it is to a consummate degree.

A commanding performance by Elle Fanning as a teenager struggling to make sense of the adult world in a turbulent period of history is thwarted by a weak script in Sally Potter's Ginger and Rosa. Set in London, England in 1962, the threat of a devastating nuclear war resulting from the Cuban Missile Crisis hangs heavily in the atmosphere, underscored by the film's opening frame depicting the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan in August, 1945. Ginger and Rosa (Alice Englert) are best friends who were born in the same hospital at the same time on the exact day of the dropping of the bomb. As children, the two are inseparable, though each has their own personality.Both rebels in the making, the red-haired Ginger has dreams of becoming a poet. She is the more outgoing of the two and has an independent streak, while Rosa, though also wild, is more introspective. They take a bath together to straighten their jeans, skip school to go the beach, hang out with boys, and take risks by jumping into cars with strangers. Ginger's mother Natalie (Christina Hendricks) and her "free-spirited" husband Rowand (Alessandro Nivoa, a Bruce Springsteen look-alike) are not so accepting of Ginger's close friendship with Rosa, however, especially when she comes home at 2 a.m., but she has support from her godfathers (Timothy Spall and Oliver Platt) as well as from Bella, a politically aware American friend played by Annette Bening.Ginger's parents are having marital difficulties, mostly because of Rowand's womanizing and the growing dysfunction of her family, together with the threatening world situation, adds stress and uncertainty to her life at a very vulnerable age. Though her father prides himself on being a non-conformist and a pacifist who went to prison rather than fight in the last war, he comes across as self-righteous and, though Ginger adores him, his declarative interactions with her become irritating, especially when his "enlightened" perspective becomes a cover for irresponsible behavior.Although they still have much in common, especially their disdain for their mothers, Ginger and Rosa take different paths as they grow into adolescence. Caught up in the nuclear hysteria, Ginger becomes increasingly fearful about her future and takes part in protest rallies, while Rosa is drawn more to the church and relationships with boys. Ginger's involvement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on one occasion, lands her in jail where she has to be bailed out by her godparents. Unfortunately, perhaps contrary to the director's intentions, Ginger's protests against the bomb come across more as an attempt to sublimate her anger at her parents than as a quest for a better world.After a confrontation with her mother, Ginger moves into her father's small apartment but quickly becomes disillusioned when she learns that Rosa has becomes involved in an affair with Rowand. Her father's inappropriate relationship with her best friend becomes the catalyst for Ginger's growing alienation, leading to a dramatic emotional confrontation with her family. Though Ginger and Rosa is an intense and intimate film, it tends to indulge in stereotyping and its often heavy-handed plotting leaves little room for subtlety or nuance. It is recommended, however, mostly for Elle Fanning's performance which is remarkable for one who was thirteen years old at the time of filming.