SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Roland E. Zwick Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, "Ginger and Rosa" is a complex tale of two adolescent girls, best friends from childhood, coming of age in early 1960s England.Ginger, so named because of her flaming red hair, is the more socially awkward of the two, and it is she who has recently become obsessed with the threat of global nuclear annihilation. Rosa seems a bit more worldly and experimental overall, more willing to take a dip in that tantalizing pool known as adulthood with all the attended mysteries - and risks - it has to offer. This creates a bit of a problem for the two when Rosa becomes romantically involved with Ginger's handsome step dad who has recently separated from Ginger's mom.Ginger struggles to find herself amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis, Ban the Bomb rallies and the tumultuous lives of the people around her. Failed marriages, unfulfilled lives, unreliable friendships - these become the preoccupations of a young girl who has the added concern of a world seemingly on the path to blowing itself up to deal with. Or is that broader concern just a convenient way for her to deflect and sublimate the pain brought on by her relationships with her mother, stepfather and best friend, not to mention the perfectly ordinary growing pains common to adolescence? Writer/director Sally Potter doesn't feel the need to answer that question, and one of the movie's strongest assets is that it doesn't deal with its subject matter and themes in black-and-white terms. It feels real precisely because it doesn't pigeonhole its characters or provide a neat, carefully planned-out narrative for the audience to follow. We're allowed to observe these people from an appropriate emotional distance and to render our own judgment - or lack of judgment - on them. They may be screwed up, but we see a lot of ourselves reflected in them, even if we don't care to fully admit it.Elle Fanning turns in a remarkably self-assured performance as Ginger, and she receives excellent support from Alice Englert as Rosa, Alessandro Nivola as the step dad, and Christina Hendricks from "Mad Men" as her mom. Moreover, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt and Annette Benning appear as unconventional but sympathetic neighbors who Greek-chorus their way through the film.

ninetails888 5.9? Really?Elle Fanning's best performance. She is incredible in Ginger & Rosa and conveys so many emotions believably. She completely disappears into her role, so much you forget it is Elle Fanning. Her performance is heart- breaking and beautiful. The other members of the ensemble which include Alessandro Nivola, Annette Benning, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall and Oliver Platt are great. My main problem with the film, though, is Alice Englert's performance. She seemed too detached from the film and Fanning and Englert's chemistry was very one-sided. Fanning was trying much harder than Englert to give the two characters a large amount of chemistry because after all, the two characters had been friends since they were born.The screenplay, also written by Sally Potter, is smart and engaging. There is a very strong plot here and the actors all bring their well- written characters to life. It's a great coming-of-age tale with the best performance by a young actor/actress this year, Elle Fanning. It's worth checking out.Read my full review of Ginger & Rosa and many other film reviews at www.thecheapseatsfilmreviews.weebly.com.

asc85 Elle Fanning gives another fantastic performance, and she is definitely an up and coming star. Unfortunately, her performance is wasted on a film where very, very little happens in almost an hour and a half. I'm not expecting to see "Iron Man" and cars blowing up, but I am expecting to see a storyline. This film reminded me of "The Holy Girl" from 2005, in that both films could have been perhaps 45 minutes in length, and that would have been more than enough time to tell the story without feeling rushed. I really try to use critic reviews on websites like MetaCritic for guidance on what to see, and when I see critics say how magnificent this film is, they really should be sued for malpractice.

John Scott This thought provoking character study follows the everyday lives of teenage best friends, Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert). It begins in 1945 at the time of the Hiroshima bombing, then moves to London, where the two girls are born. Fast forward to 1960s London where we find a world living under the shadow of nuclear holocaust. Writer and Director, Sally Potter, masterfully portrays the feelings of fear, anguish and concern that the world could end at any moment, through a brilliant story and moody and evocative sense of place and time.The acting of all the cast is outstanding; the excellent Timothy Spall and Oliver Platt as Ginger's godparents, and Annette Bening, stole every scene they were in; but by far the best performance is from Elle Fanning as Ginger. In this Oscar-worthy performance, she sets herself up as 'Elle Fanning - A list actress', rather than simply Dakota's little sister. With a performance like this at only 14 years old, we should expect to see a lot more of her in years to come.