Frankie

I saw 'Frankie' today (Oct. 6, 2019) at the Mill Valley Film Festival. A more slow-moving, uninteresting film would be hard to find. Other critics of the film have done a good job of laying out the plot, so I won't take up your time. My low rating is based on the low (lowest) energy that this film puts out. It is as though no one has the energy to show emotion. As though the Portugal heat has had its effect on everyone. But more than anything else the film runs as though it were a table-read; actors with script in hand, doing a first read at a table. The camera work is leisurely at best. This could be a TV soap-opera episode as easily as a theatrical film.

And for that there's no excuse.

Then why, you might ask, the four stars. For Ms. Tomei and Mrs. Hupert, that's why.