Mr. Holmes (2015)

Sherlock Holmes has proven himself particularly well suited to reimagining, and Mr. Holmes gives us a perspective on the character that I don't think I'd seen before. Based on the 2005 novel A Slight Trick of Mind by American author Mitch Cullin, Mr. Holmes has two primary narratives, one concerning Sherlock's last case as a professional detective, just after the first world war, and one concerns him late into his country retirement just post world war two. In the latter narrative Holmes is fighting a gradually failing memory to record the details of his last case, one that continues to haunt him. That case proves to have shades of Hitchcock's Vertigo, as Holmes (sans Watson, who has married and left Baker street) is hired to follow a man's trouble wife, a woman who may be having supernatural visitations, may be being manipulated to think she is having them, may just be crazy, or may be something else, but who will have a profound impact on Holmes life and prompt his retirement from private investigating.

Back in the 1947 narrative Holmes in living in his country home with his house keeper (Laura Linney) and her young son (Milo Parker) with whom he develops a strong bond, and together they attempt to solve the mystery of what is killing Mr. Holmes honey bees. There is also a side plot consisting of flash backs to Holmes post WWII visit to Japan, where he went in search of  a substance that might be able to slow down the deterioration of his mental faculties.This sequences contains a moment where Holmes happens upon a young lady severely burned by an atomic bomb blast, the juxtaposition of the aging Victorian detective coming face to face with the horrors of the atomic age is quite effective.

The writing is sharp and the construction of the piece quite intricate, as is appropriate for Holmes. Ian McKellen's casting in the title role is quite the cue, surprisingly he had never played Sherlock before, and the thought of the Holmes movies a younger McKellen could have made, well the potential would have been great. This is a reteaming of McKellen with his Gods and Monsters director Bill Condon, the two seem to really click. This movies does something with the Holmes character that makes him come alive in a new way, and adds a late in life crinkle that shows him still dynamic, still developing, at the age of 93, and that's a very satisfying proportion. ***1/2