The timing is just about perfect for the release of this film, as it premieres right after the Oscars and on the heels of our best picks for 2004. One of George’s favorite films last year was "Young Adam" and this film has some similarities. It too is set in Scotland and also stars two of the same fine actors, Emily Mortimer as Lizzie Morrison and young Jack McElhone as her son, Frankie. "Young Adam" was an NC-17 adult romance, while this one is a PG-13 tearjerker, though not overly melodramatic.

Frankie is a bright, talented boy, about to reach his 10^th birthday, and he happens to be deaf. Living with them is Lizzie’s mother Nell (Mary Riggans, a renowned radio star in Scotland). She projects the same earthy, on-screen quality as Imelda Staunton’s performance in "Vera Drake."

Lizzie never keeps a job very long as they are always on the move. Are they staying one step ahead of the rent collector¾ or is it something more? As the story unfolds you learn that someone is looking for them. It’s a mystery of sorts, as intriguing as the wonderful letters and stamps that Frankie’s da sends him from the ports of call his ship, the Accra, sails into. But we also discover that it’s Lizzie who writes these letters to Frankie, pretending to be his father.

Lizzie, Nell and Frankie arrive in yet another new town, by the seaside where many freighters dock. Frankie has the usual, expected adjustment issues. He corrects one boy’s spelling when he scratches out "def boy" on a piece of paper. Frankie is an excellent lip reader and makes a few friends, and keeps track of the Accra’s position with pins on a large map, as he reads his da’s letters.

An excellent student in geography, it’s this trait that allows Frankie to connect the dots to the other events in the story that will let you know what Frankie really knows. This is a very well written movie, with some surprising turns.

The letters Frankie writes to his father are the only way he really says what is on his mind, and therefore it’s how Lizzie stays connected to her son. She assumes that as he gets older, he’ll tire of the routine, but of course, that is not the case. With mail deliveries only twice a month, keeping up this routine is a manageable lie.

This process of deception is grooving along until a ship called the Accra appears in the local newspaper, stating that it will dock in their town in a few weeks. Lizzie works in a local restaurant with her new friend Marie (Sharon Small) who, when asked, finds someone who can be Frankie’s da for a day while the ship is in town working its cargo. Lizzie and The Stranger (Gerard Butler of "Timeline") have the expected budding romance yet it stays respectfully and realistically distant. He even stays an extra day to be with Frankie and his mother.

There are many little gems in this film. One is the cinematography. You feel like you are in Scotland. Frankie and his "da" connect in a special way in their limited time together. This stranger genuinely wants to leave this boy’s life in tact, even though he must go.

Late in the movie we learn that Frankie’s real father is very ill and wants to see his son that he’s not laid eyes on since he was an infant. The man was abusive but his sister urges Lizzie to at least visit him in the hospital, which she reluctantly agrees to do. Forgiveness is a spiritual value that merits considerable debate. Indeed, is it possible to forgive on your own terms…perhaps "a little?" That sounds like being "a little bit pregnant."

If forgiveness is something you know you need to embrace, this movie may actually make your life move in a more positive direction. That’s getting a lot for your time and money spent at the movies.