Frankie Starlight (1995)

Sadly Over-hyped

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the great "unknowns" in the movie world: a great film seen by very few people. I'm still waiting for the DVD but not holding my breath. Thankfully, my VHS is still good. But like anything good, we'd like to share this with others and most people have never heard of this movie.For those sensitive souls who enjoy a fascinating portrait of an unusual person or persons that is both sad and uplifting, this is your ticket. It has both, in spades.....a haunting film you can't forget. It's a tragic tale yet has a happy ending of sorts and leaves you feeling satisfied.What it is, and I can't remember if it is based on real-life situation, is the story of a woman who has a dwarf for a son and what happens to the two of them, beginning in France, moving to Ireland, over to the United States and then back to Ireland.Along the way, the mother, played so sadly by French actress Anne Parillaud (the original La Femme Nikita), gets involved with two men: Gabriel Byrne and Matt Dillon. All three of these adults are really interesting, likable people, but nothing like the dwarf, who is played magnificently by two actors. Alan Pentony plays "Frankie" has a child and a more lovable kid would be hard to find. Corbin Walker does a great job of playing the adult "Frankie." Trust me: you will not forget either of them.Walker narrates the film, telling it mostly in flashback style, from his best-selling book. In addition to his mom and the two father-figures in his life, is a short story of Frankie's love affair with astronomy and the stars, hence "Frankie Starlight."The only profane character in the movie is the book publisher who has two short scenes. That, and two quick sex scenes, give it the "R" rating. Otherwise, this is wonderful old-fashioned storytelling, the kind that makes you really care about the characters.

Spoilers. This is the sort of story that Southern writers used to be good at. Carson MacCullers, say, or Harper Lee, if they'd have thrown in a bit of travelogue. Maybe it comes from living in small, homogeneous communities in which the slightest of individual quirks draw attention to themselves. Somebody is a deaf-mute, or intellectually challenged, or a Jew. And the question the presence of such people raises is an interesting one: How can such marginal persons establish anything resembling normal relationships with others?In Ireland, when it rains gently, it is called "a soft day," and this entire movie is rather like that sort of Irish weather. The story briefly: Bernadette leaves a ruined post-war France on an American troopship and is impregnated on board before disembarking in Ireland, where she gives birth to a dwarf. I don't know that the dwarf really "stands for" anything, as did a similar figure in "The Tin Drum." The rest of the film alternates between Bernadette's early abortive attempt to escape her dreary life in Dublin and move to Texas with an ex-soldier who remembered her from the troopship, a nice guy really, and the story, set in the present, of Frankie, her son, who has grown up and become a successful author. After their return to Ireland, Bernadette is depressed and decides to end her distress. Frankie finds happiness with a girl he loved during childhood and now, reencountering her at a book signing, courts briefly and marries.All of the performances are more than adequate. The actor playing Frankie as a child is especially effective, with a frank, open, lovable face and a shock of red hair atop his truncated body and limbs. He's also smart, sensitive, and talented, and it's possible to see easily how he matured into an accomplished artist, though he carries his anguish and self-consciousness with him into adulthood. Bernadette seems to be in an understandable state of shock during the entire story, moved by whim and circumstance rather than deliberation. Matt Dillon's part is less complex than most of the others. He really loves Bernadette and adores Frankie the child and loses them both. leaving him with his own two children and a wife who has the temperament and moral values of a black hornet. The happy ending, if that's what it is, isn't tacked on willy nilly but evolves naturally out of preceding events.It's a nicely done fairy tale. It's low keyed in almost every way and insinuates itself into your involvement only with the passage of a bit of time. Patience is called for. I enjoyed it and, unless you have hunger pangs for explosive fireballs, you may enjoy it too. A warning, though -- these days I find myself enjoying almost every movie that doesn't have high speed car chases and explosive fireballs.

Elmer Bernstein's music for this outstanding motion picture is superb. The main character displays courage in the face of what life has given him (dwarfism and family despair). As for the girl he loves and adores in his early life, she too overcomes the horrors of a traumatic experience (seeing her father with another woman) during her early childhood. The supporting cast did just that (magnificent support to make the main characters believable). And for a change, even though there are so many sad moments in the life of Frankie, the conclusion is a happy one for those who persevere. Love doesn't conquer all, but it makes life beautiful.

Saw this film on TV last night, and was blown away by the performances of Alan Pentony and Corban Walker, as the child and adult Frankie. When I read the credits and saw an Acting Coach listed for them, I guessed they were first-time actors. This was confirmed by the Showcase movie host after the film, and makes their achievements even more impressive. Kudos to director Michael Lindsay-Hogg!Gabriel Byrne was also wonderful - charming and tender - the farewell scene in the park was heartbreaking in its understated simplicity. I'm not a big fan of Anne Parillaud - I saw her in "La Femme Nikita" and an amusing American vampire/cop comedy whose title I can't recall - and the charm of that doe-eyed silent gaze wears off after you've seen it a few times. Still, she conveys the mysterious allure necessary for this role, and it's easy to see why these men fall for her.Overall, "Frankie Starlight" is a lovely movie, and it's a shame it didn't do better at the box office. Anyone who loves the music of an Irish accent, as I do, will be charmed by that, even if nothing else in this beautiful story (which has a happy ending, by the way!) catches your fancy. Plus, the score under the closing credits was a gorgeous piano and cello combination which kept the mood to the end.