Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Jessica Swale, Shoebox Films, PG 99 Minutes.
Making her directorial debut is award-winning English playwright Jessica Swale with her poignant war drama of a reclusive writer resigned to a solitary life outside the seaside cliffs of Southern England as World War II rages across the channel.
While a youthful Alice (Gemma Arterton – ‘Gemma Bovery’) hammers away on her manual typewriter she is interrupted by a lady at the front door who is determined that Alice take in a school boy named Frank (Lucas Bond – ‘Slumber’), an evacuee from London’s Blitz.
At first reluctant to take the young boy Alice eventually relents to him staying but only for a few days provided he does not interfere with her writing about the pagan Summerland and the mythical castle in the sky.
Unused to having anyone else in her home Alice notes that Frank needs to further his studies and agrees to accompany him to his new school where he is introduced to Mr. Sullivan (Tom Courtney – ‘45 Years’) the veteran headmaster.
While Frank is being befriended by school friend Edie (Dixie Egerickx – ‘The Secret Garden’) Alice begins to experience a past flashback reminiscing about her intimate relationship with Vera (Gugu Mbatha Raw – ‘Miss Sloane’).
The drama reaches a certain climax with Alice receiving news of the death of Frank’s father (an air force pilot) but does not tell him until he learns of it from such people as Mr. Sullivan and Edie.
It is only later following Frank’s reunion with his mother, who turns out to be Vera, Alice comes to fully recognise the connection and emotions they have in common and recalls the many pleasant times they spent together at her seaside home.
Considering this is Swale’s first feature film she has crafted a highly emotional story that is slow in parts but enjoyable most of the time due to the message of hope conveyed during the trying times then and now.
Notwithstanding the brief but pleasing portrayals by Bond as Frank, Courtney as Mr. Sullivan and Gerick as Eddie it is Arterton who lights up the screen again in every scene with her stand-out performance as the younger Alice.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
