Mr. Holmes

— A nice little film about a somewhat odd old man who just happens to be Sherlock Holmes, retired to the countryside and in his 90s and dealing with his own mortality. Most of the time, it’s enough to just watch Ian McKellen’s subtlety as he totters along with his cane trying to remember the specifics of one of the many cases Watson fictionalized. A scene where Holmes is in a theater, watching a movie where an actor is playing the Holmes so popularized in the fictionalized accounts of his cases, is particularly intriguing—the fictionalized Holmes has in ways become real and Mr. Holmes himself something of an impostor. The need for fact, so crucial to the investigator, is questioned within the larger sphere of life, and in the end even Holmes sees the value of fiction when dealing with the human heart. Seeing the film is a pleasant sojourn, mostly because the temperament of the piece is so appealing.

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[2015. 104 min. Directed by Bill Condon. Starring Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, and Milo Parker.]
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/18/mr-holmes-review-peter-bradshaw-film-of-the-week-ian-mckellen