Mr. Holmes - film review

Last Saturday we went to see Mr. Holmes.

Not the person, but the film. The film was about an older Sherlock Holmes who had forgotten what happened in a certain case, and why he felt so guilty about it. He figured he must have done something very wrong.

For those who have not yet seen the film, I’m not going to tell the plot; I’m going to talk about the story telling in it, which really pleased me. Incidentally, the film partly talks about story telling, how Doctor Watson wrote the stories and how Holmes disagreed with the, in Holmes’ eyes, lies that ended up on the paper. However, at the end of his life, Holmes learnt something from Doctor Watson, and it translates into how Holmes decides to reply to a letter of a man he had recently visited.

I like how the separate stories are tied up together. To me it looked very realistic and not forced like you see so often. The woman didn’t turn out to be the long lost sister or daughter of the woman from the other story. Nor was the father the uncle or other relation to one of the women. There were none of those relations and yet the story connected them all up, without having any of them meet each other. That really pleased me. That’s what I mean with: “…it looked very realistic and not forced…”. Cause in real life, most people are not your uncle, long lost sister or even distant relative. Most people are not even acquaintances, but they can still be connected to you in some way. It’s the game ‘Six degrees of…’. That’s what this film does masterfully among a lot of other things.

The other things are the thoughtful way of portraying characters and situations, or the showing of relations between people, the situations they force by their actions and the resulting pain from those actions. This story is a story about how life tends to flow, more than a story of how Mr. Holmes is or isn’t coping with these situations. It’s definitely not your typical Sherlock Holmes film, in which Holmes is the master and everyone around him are just blindly, or in confused state, following him. This time Mr. Holmes is the student and all the rest of them are the teachers. To me, it made Mr. Holmes more real, more human, and more likable.

James

It seems I have a tighter grip on where my obsessions come from and why they wax and wane or flourish. However, a touch of mystery is always welcome.

I realized it a few weeks back, actually. Youtube must have come up with the suggestion of Dad’s Army, because in April they were still filming the new film. I followed through on the suggestion, because I was bored and sentimental, and there wasn’t a better suggestion.

The mystery part is why James Beck keeps attracting my attention. I still don’t know, and I’ve got the feeling I’ve got the wrong end of the stick about him…meaning that I think I know a few things about him, but those things might very well be wrong.

Then there’s Thetford.

Ever noticed the sun was always shining in Walmington-on-sea? Ever noticed that Walmington-on-sea only knows two seasons; a warm spring and a bit chillier, but still pleasant spring? That’s because David Croft not only reserved the locations to film on, but also the sun to weather the scenes in some sunlight. Bollocks, of course, but the sun always seemed to be shining when the Dad’s Army team was filming the outdoor scenes in Thetford.

Then there are the many stories about their times in Thetford, with the whole crew and cast including the extra specials. There are the stories of people roaming the cafes in Thetford in between shoots and the one big diner held at the principal cast’s hotel where crew and cast including the extra specials, would meet to eat, talk and have a merry old time.

It sounds rather idyllic, with the ever shining sun and all the good spirits (mental and alcoholic). So, you find it strange that’s the place and time I imagine to be at?

I tried different kind of scenarios; me just being a bystander, me getting mildly involved, me getting heavily involved. I leave it to your own imagination what “involved” means in these cases.

One thing never differs; I meet him.

None of the above I will ever be a part of. It’s a shame, but something I can live with. What I find harder to accept is, I will never have the chance to meet him. I will never have a chance to tell him I enjoy his performances, and that I’m very keen to see more of his work. Well, I can tell him, but I won’t ever be able to look him in the eyes while I do. I will never get an answer from him, or a reaction. There will never be, in any way, a connection between us. Because he died before I was even born. Mind you, he would be 86 if he was still alive.

Jamie (Alan Rickman) & Jimmy (as pte Walker)

One funny, weird thing, one of the main characters in the film Truly Madly Deeply is called Jamie, and the film is about Nina, his girlfriend, missing him terribly after he suddenly died. I find in my fantasies that’s the situation I fantasize up when I fantasize about Jimmy. I had done that a few times before I realized the similarity.
And this is where I see the weird connections: Halfway through the 90’s I saw Truly Madly Deeply for the first time and the film stuck with me. It was also around this time I saw Jimmy for the first time, and he too stuck with me. I say “stuck with me” on purpose, because it was them sticking with me, not the other way around; I wandered off and went exploring other interests. Now both Jimmy and Jamie are back in my life. Hilarious!
To get that last joke(?) you have to know the film. Oh, and I imagine they’re both actually named James. I know that of Jimmy, I’m guessing that of Jamie.