Opening this weekend is the indie film Ginger and Rosa, described as a coming of age story set against the backdrop of 1962 and the claustrophobic mindset of the Cold War. Starring Elle Fanning (little sister of Dakota) and director Jane Campions' daughter Alice Englert, Ginger and Rosa are life long best friends who navigate perilous waters of impending womanhood. Along the way their relationship becomes strained as the process of growing up has a way of pulling people apart. Each character is very different but held together by the love they have for each other. This film really brings nothing new to the coming of age film. They experiment with smoking cigs, picking up boys, skipping school, and many other behaviors that you have seen time and time again. Rosa's mom was abandoned by her husband early on and is a single mother who struggles to raise her daughter. Ginger has a mother who tries as best as she can given her husband is a professor/intellectual who is vastly flawed as a man. A womanizer who it is related, contiunually leaves, then re-enters the home depending on which student he can lure into his seedy little web. I found this particular character extremely unsympathetic and sort of hated the guy. Why does Ginger and her mother keep forgiving him and taking him back? You know he is just going to do it again. The rest of the cast are basically throwaways. The film is an awesome showcase for the acting talents of Elle Fanning. Without which this movie would be boring and very nearly terrible.
The underlying tension of this film is Gingers' very real fear of nuclear annihilation which peaks during the Cuban missile crisis. Ginger seems to be slowly sinking from understandable neurosis to becoming seriously disturbed. I kept wondering if this poor girl is ever going to find a slice of happiness in life. An ambiguous ending leaves it all up in the air. One can be hopeful but I found little to be hopeful about. Of course we all know now that the Cold War never did turn hot, thank goodness, but that doesn't lessen the unspoken horror of the era. So maybe eventually she does what everyone else did back in those days. Just didn't think about it too much. If you didn't, going crazy with worry could have been very easy. In the final analysis, Ginger and Rosa is a character study that could have used more interesting characters. Beautifully filmed with a breakout performance by Fanning this movie is interesting. With more focus on delivering a message, believable supporting characters, and normal reactions to bad behavior: Ginger and Rosa could have been elevated from a good movie to a great one. This is an OK date movie.
I give Ginger and Rosa a grade of: B
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