You won't be disappointed!

To me, this movie is perfection.

So much average

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

From independent film director Sally Potter comes this small tale about friendship in the early 1960s as the world is heading towards the Cuban missile crisis. Ginger & Rosa is about two teenage girls growing up together. Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert), are 17 years old both on the verge of entering adulthood but having fun together, discussing religion, politics, playing truant and jumping in cars with boys.Ginger though is facing a personal crisis. Her parents have separated, her bohemian and free thinking father might be a womanizer and the dangers in the world is causing her to be filled with dread. Ginger gets involved with the nuclear disarmament movement and her relationship with Rosa enters an upheaval that threatens to shatter both families.The film starts interestingly enough especially with the casting which for a tale set in Britain has rather a lot of American actors such as Oliver Platt, Annette Bening, Christina Hendricks and Fanning who is excellent. Englert herself is Australian but the tale gets dull rather quickly and only livens up at the end. Just as the film gets interesting and the actors elevate the drama it finishes.

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.

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.

The most amazing thing about this film is the interview with Elle Fanning amongst the extras on the DVD. (People who saw the film in the cinema will not have seen it, of course.) Fanning seems to have been acting since before she was in the womb, and being in front of cameras for her is as familiar as being surrounded by curious crowds must be to performing dolphins in an aquarium. As someone who has been on display all her life (she is now 16), Fanning appears not to have the slightest trace of vanity and is unfazed. In the interview, she seems to be as innocent and good as if she were an angel who had been sitting on the side of Heaven admiring the view, fell off, and landed down here by mistake, and is making the best of it. Everybody loves not only working with her but even being in the same room with her. Now how rare is that? In this film she gives a powerful and mature performance, despite being only 15 at the time. This is a Sally Potter film, so that it means it is going to be unusual. Sally Potter is an absolute perfectionist. She gets some quirky idea and then bites into it like a bulldog and does not release it until it is perfectly executed. She appears to be an obstinate person, and I wish she had less weird ideas for films. But once we accept that the film is about whatever it is about, we can be certain that it will be exquisitely made, in other words a pure masterpiece of Potterism. Potter, being a woman, has the capacity for deep and profound rapport with her actors and her crew, and they all love her. That is how she gets such spectacular technical results, performances which are classic, camera work and editing which are magnificent, and everything clicks. I love watching and listening to the tango, but I found her tango film THE TANGO LESSON (1997) somewhat irritating because of her quirkiness and her peculiar angle on things. She is far from being an ordinary person. I wish she were 5% more ordinary, whereas with most people I wish they were 95% more weird. That shows how dissatisfied I am with the underlying conceptions she sometimes comes up with, whilst being full of admiration of how she realizes them. I would like to sit down with her, hold her hand reassuringly, and say to her: 'Now, look here, Sally …' But having said all that by way of prelude, I must go on to say that this film is marvellous as a film, and something for all to be proud of. The camera-work by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, so much of which is hand-held, is spectacular, which greatly adds to the effectiveness of this intense and personal work. Together, the director and cinematographer managed incredible intimacy in the presentation of this sensitive tale. Supporting roles are well carried out by four famous actors, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall, Jodhi May, and the amazing Annete Bening (see my review of BEING JULIA, 2004, where I describe her performance as miraculous), all clearly drawn to the project by Potter's creative reputation and renowned rapport with actors. As Fanning's best friend Rosa, Alice Englert does a wonderful job in the second lead role, which is her first major film appearance. It is no surprise that having done so well, she has gone on to play leads in three new films in quick succession, and we will certainly be seeing a lot more of her, as she is talented, dynamic, and sensuous. Perhaps she takes so naturally to film acting because she is the daughter of the famous director Jane Campion, and her father also was in the film business but seems to have left it in 1996, except to produce a short in 2004. It often makes a difference to be brought up in a family where there is no fear of the camera and making movies is looked upon as a normal occupation. One must also praise the editing of this film by Anders Refn, and once again the closeness of the cooperation between the editor and the director in turning out this flawless realization of Potter's vision. I live in hope that a woman of such talent will one day have a vision more sympathetic to my own interests and inclinations, but that of course is merely my subjective view and has no objective validity. Hence, don't listen to me if I grumble, or take it as any ill reflection upon this film, which is what it is to a consummate degree.