Sharon Small Movies
Directed by Shona Auerbach, Dear Frankie revolves around nine-year-old Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his mother, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer). The mother and son duo have been on the run for as long as Frankie, who has been deaf for years, can remember. In an effort to protect Frankie from the truth -- that a psychotic father, whose physical abuse caused his hearing loss, is at the root of their constant need to move from one home to the next -- Lizzie pens a series of letters from Frankie's "father" in hopes of assuaging his curiosity. However, when Frankie becomes convinced that his father is taking a break from his exotic adventures and making his way back home, Lizzie must make a tough decision: find another way to pacify Frankie's desire to meet his father or tell him the awful truth. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emily Mortimer, Jack McElhone, (more)
London's most frequently eligible bachelor gets some lessons in growing up from a maladroit 12-year-old boy in this third big-screen adaptation of a Nick Hornby novel, directed and co-written by siblings Chris and Paul Weitz of American Pie fame. About a Boy concerns the parallel coming-of-age stories of the thirtysomething Will (Hugh Grant), a layabout "serial nice guy" living a posh, carefree lifestyle off his deceased father's fortune; and the preteen Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a bright but awkward youth who's tired of his mom Fiona's (Toni Collette) depressed, boyfriend-less state. Their paths collide when Will, deciding that single mothers are the easiest romantic conquests on the dating scene, fabricates a two-year-old son and joins a group called S.P.A.T. (Single Parents Alone Together). Marcus is wise to Will's scheme, however, and through some incessant pestering and blackmail, he contrives for Will to date Fiona. Though Will doesn't hit it off immediately with either Marcus or his mother, he gradually begins to open up to the people around him -- so much so that he attracts the attention of another attractive single mom (Rachel Weisz). A U.S./U.K. co-production of Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Films and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title (the company responsible for the Grant-related Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones's Diary), About a Boy was co-written by What's Eating Gilbert Grape creator Peter Hedges. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, (more)
- 2001
- Add The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: A Great Deliverance to QueueAdd The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: A Great Deliverance to top of Queue
Thomas Lynley (Nathaniel Parker) is a detective inspector with Scotland Yard; he's also the eighth Earl of Asherton, and his mixture of upper-class refinement, private-school affectations, and steel-nerved street smarts set the stage for this made-for-TV mystery based on the novel by Elizabeth George. A farmer is found decapitated in York, and Lynley and his new partner, Sgt. Barbara Havers (Sharon Small), are sent in to investigate. The farmer's reclusive daughter immediately confesses to the crime, but Lynley has a hunch there's more to the crime than she's telling him. He discovers there are more than a few people who would stand to gain a great deal from the farmer's death. While Lynley struggles to get to the bottom of the case, he soon finds himself butting heads with Sgt. Havers; she's as much a part of the working class as he is entrenched in blue-blood society, and initially they blend like chalk and cheese until she gets to know the man behind the pretentious facade. Originally produced for British television, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: A Great Deliverance was aired in the United States as part of the PBS anthology series Mystery! ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nathaniel Parker, Sharon Small, (more)
- 1997
After doing a documentary on Glasgow loan sharks, director Ron Rohrer reworked the subject into a TV drama with a screenplay by Rona Munro, who previously scripted documentary material into drama for Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird (1994). In Glasgow, Lynette (Shirley Henderson) is friends with redhead Terry (Sharon Small) and dates petty criminal Andy (Joe McFadden). Terry's promise to her pal Lynette is that one day they can take the high road -- a vacation trip to Loch Lomond. Despite warnings from Andy, Lynette piles up debts and trouble looms. Lynette and Terry find the bonds of their friendship strained, as Terry has to make her way through the violent loan-shark world to help her friend. Shot in Super-16 with distinctive, hand-held camerawork by Barry Ackroyd (Under the Skin), this film was originally made for BBC Scotland and shown at the 1997 Edinburgh Film Festival's New British Expo. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shirley Henderson, Sharon Small, (more)
