Movie review: Is Anybody There?

by John P. Meyer

Director John Crowley follows up his thought-provoking drama Boy A with an equally reflective and even more melancholic film, Is Anybody There? This time his story focuses on the universal though largely disenfranchised cinematic themes of aging and death.

The film features Michael Caine in one of those bare-naked-psyche performances that says a lot for both his personal courage and his prowess as an acting professional. It also boasts the return to the big screen of one of the most engaging young actors to bow in recent years, Bill Milner. (Young master Milner portrayed Will Proudfoot in 2007's Son of Rambow.)

Here, Milner portrays Eddie, a boy growing up in the potentially traumatic environment of the old folks home being operated by his parents (David Morrissey as "Dad": Anne-Marie Duff as "Mum"). To keep himself from going stir-crazy - or, perhaps more dangerously, turning poetic - young Eddie develops a fascination for psychic research, going so far as to plant tape recorders in the bedrooms of the various oldsters living (at least for a while) under his family's roof.

When one of the elder residents shrugs off the mortal coil - as several do over the course of the narrative (the house seems to have a higher-than-normal attrition rate) - Eddie surreptitiously extracts his recorder and dons a headset to listen in to the poor person's final moments. Along with whatever might follow. The daily ghost journal kept by Eddie contains page after page of notations to the effect that "nothing was observed."

Into this disconcerting home environment - which features Dad attempting (rather clumsily) to start up an affair with the high school-aged housemaid (Linzey Cocker, as Tanya) - comes a retired stage magician named Clarence (Michael Caine) who parks his "Amazing Clarence" lorry beside the house and reluctantly moves into the room which has just become available. (Old folks check in, but they don't check out. Except when they do...)

Clarence clearly doesn't fit in: he finds nothing at all in common with the (to his mind) dull-witted, complacent and self-deluded old people who populate the common rooms or wander the lawns. A psychologist might say he's in the "denial stage" of the process of admitting that he's reached the beginning of his own end.

One result of Clarence's depression is that he becomes surly and lashes out at Eddie when the boy - recognizing in Clarence a kindred spirit - makes repeated attempts to befriend him. It's only after Clarence has his own brush with death that he allows Eddie access into his personal and emotional space. Not to mention his magician's bag of tricks.

The remainder of the film follows the exploits of Eddie and Clarence as they fight to build a bridge between their island worlds, and come to terms with their far different realities. For Eddie it's late-life lessons learned earlier than usual; in Clarence's case it's a bowing to the inevitable. But he won't be going gentle into this good night.

The dramatic (and humorous, and tragic) highlight of the film comes when Clarence puts on a magic show for Eddie and his schoolmates, who have been invited to a birthday party at the home. Clarence wows all in attendance with a variety of flashy card tricks and assorted prestidigitations, then asks for a volunteer from the audience to help with the big finale. (HINT: those experiencing bouts of short-term memory loss should not be allowed to operate the guillotine.)

Duff and Morrissey lend depth and feet-of-clay humanity to their roles as individuals struggling to make a living during tough economic times while keeping their family whole and (relatively) happy. Duff plays the kind of caregiver we should all be fortunate enough to end up with, while Morrissey matches her accomplishment with his portrayal of a sadly isolated middle aged fellow who leverages himself into becoming simply sad.

A wavering theremin-like score accompanies events in this 95-minute, uncomfortably real take on what life has in store for all of us. (Eventually.) The surprising conclusion is that "going gentle" might not be all that bad.