John approves of the very old Holmes.
Mr. Holmes
Grade: B+
Director: Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters)
Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher (from Mitch Cullin’s (A Slight Trick of the Mind)
Cast: Ian McKellan (Avengers), Laura Linney (Mystic River)
Rating: PG
Runtime:104 mimn.
by John DeSando
“I've decided to write the story down; as it was, not as John made it. Get it right, before I die.” Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen)
Will we ever tire of Sherlock Holmes in movies? From early silent films through Basil Rathbone’s iconic interpretation to modern day Robert Downey Jr.’s, the ways the memorably brainy creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be depicted seem endless. And so it goes, Ian McKellen’s recent turn in Mr. Holmes as a 93 year old Holmes recounting his final case and dealing with recalcitrant wasps at his Sussex farmhouse in 1947 adds richness where I never thought about it: How would the great mind work as it approaches extreme old age?
Well, just fine, thank you. Although getting on in age himself, McKellen (76) gracefully depicts a Holmes painfully writing his memoirs including an unsolved case and a beautiful woman (see introductory quote), with whom he had a troubled relationship. He has short term memory loss, perhaps early Alzheimer's, and it may take him more time than in the past to put things together, resulting in a sometimes slow drama, but he still has astonishing powers of deduction far beyond other mortals.
Perhaps the most poignant challenge is to gently influence young Roger (Milo Parker) as the two tend to beehives in the back of Holmes’ cottage. Their relationship is one of mutual affection and honesty, where goodness and mistakes are acknowledged and nurtured or forgiven.
This film is worthy of the many splendid Holmes adaptations because, like his opium addiction, old age sneaks up on the monumental detective and helps reveal him as just a man, only more so. His involvement with the mysterious woman, like his interaction with Irene Adler, adds richness and nuance to an iconic fictional character who cherishes facts not fiction.. Holmes already is a national treasure and a symbol of rationality, preparing the way for forensic investigation so much a part of modern criminal investigation.
Director of Photography Tobias Schleisser’s landscapes are as rich as Holmes’ long-term memories while production designer Martin Childs does his magic with the period detail. Here is an antidote to summer blockbuster blasting, an elegant little film about a big man in decline.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
