Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2013

Sally Potter’s latest is the emotional and political coming-of-age story of a pair of best girlfriends. The time frame is the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 England, during which the girls’ bohemian families are heavily into the leftist ban-the-bomb movement. The focus is on Dakota’s little sister Elle Fanning as Ginger (playing a 17-year-old at just 13!). Of special note is Alessandro Nivola as her father, a jailed conscientious objector during WWII who milks his “sacrifice” for all it’s worth, including the justification of an appalling betrayal. A self-involved villain you’ll love to hate.