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Is Anybody There?
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Magnolia Pictures Review written by and copyright: Ethan C. Stevenson (28th December 2009). |
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The Film
 Full disclosure: I absolutely love Michael Caine and will watch basically anything that he is in. It goes without saying then that when I saw a preview for “Is Anybody There?” on Apple.com some months ago I told myself that I would try and go see it. Alas, as is the case with most of the films that get released by Magnolia Pictures, the theatrical distribution arm of Mark Cuban’s entertainment empire, I couldn’t find a showing of “Is Anybody There?” at a single theater within a reasonable distance of my house. Even worse, those a-holes at Time Warner Cable dropped HDNET and HDNET Movies some time ago, so catching the film in one of the networks regular “Sneak Preview” airings was a no go either. Luckily, three or so days ago a review copy landed on my doorstep; and on Blu-ray no less! The film, set in the late 1980's and written by Peter Harness, is a semi-autobiographical tale of an odd 10-year-old boy, named Edward (Bill Milner), who’s fascinated by death and the afterlife. This captivation with death is the byproduct of growing up in a retirement home, run by his Mom (Anne-Marie Duff) and Dad (David Morrisey), where death is just another part of everyday life in their cold and lonely home in seaside England. When an aging and forgetful, retired magician named Clarence (Michael Caine) arrives at their front door, Eddie is, at first, apprehensive and resentful. The young boy is angry at his parents for making him live in a house full of old people, and he’s mad that he has to give up his bedroom to Clarence and instead sleep in a glorified broom closet. But, after Clarence attempts, and fails, to kill himself, Edward tries to befriend the crusty old juggler. Although it’s rocky at first, eventually the two become friends, each teaching the other a little about life. Clarence tries to crack Edward out of his oddball shell, while the younger boy tries to cheer up the miserable old chap. It’s here, in the scenes between Edward and Clarence that the film lives. The two actors have excellent chemistry and their dialogue and relationship is extremely well written. It’s realistic, heartfelt and not all too sappy or mushy. Milner, who impressed me a great deal with his debut in Gareth Jennings’ “Son of Rambow” (2007), is just as good here. He has an honest and believable way about him and, unlike most child actors, Milner is actually a) not cringe inducing b) able to convey some true emotional range. And Caine? Well, as expected the tenured actor is exceptional. But, he isn’t just giving a good performance. He’s giving a great one; I hesitate to say that this is his best performance ever, as he’s taken on so many great roles in his many years, but his stint in “Is Anybody There?” is certainly up there. Unfortunately though, the film isn’t just about Edward and Clarence and so their excellent storyline, with the equally excellent performances, is tainted. The script is burdened with so many unnecessary subplots that the film wanders around like a chicken with its head cut off. It’s directionless and lacks focus. Unfortunately, most of the diversions, which includes a side plot about Eddie’s Father going though a mid-life crisis, an even more tedious side track about his parents’ financial troubles, and a totally unneeded story about a relationship between two of the old tenants, played by Rosemary Harris and Karl Johnson, get more than the few minutes that each should have had devoted to them. The Harris-Johnson story should have been cut entirely; they’re good actors and their characters are amusing in a background sort of way, but they don’t need, nor deserve the ten or so minutes allotted for them in the film. The two subplots involving Eddie’s parents are more crucial to the overall film, particularly because they both establish the rotten home life that the main character lives in, but again, a few minutes of exposition is all that should have been set aside. Instead, each is drawn out for seemingly no other reason than the fact that they pad the runtime. Can a film be saved by a performance from an excellent actor? How about two stellar performances from two talented people? Apparently, at least according to my own conclusion in the review of “The Soloist” (2009), the answer is yes, and “Is Anybody There?” does little to disprove that thought. But, at the same time, it has to be said that in the case of this film, the performances only bring the films other glaring deficiencies to light. It’s true that there have certainly been far worse films this year, and “Is Anybody There?” is competently made and completely solid on a technical level. Clarence and Edwards story is worth watching and Caine is great; but the film does have flaws and is, in the end, a little cliché.
Video
The 1080p 24/fps widescreen 2.35:1 VC-1 encoded transfer is, although I assume faithful to the source, not all that visually stimulating. First things first, you’ll notice that the film is rather dark. Actually, it’s really dark. Although the black level is solid, contrast is rather disappointing and the picture looks generally flat and murky. The film looks like it was shot in completely overcast conditions, which it partly was, but seems even more so thanks to the darker, low contrast imagery. A dreary grayness seeps into the film throughout. Colors are bland, mostly browns, yellows and dark hues. The Blu-ray retains a nice, natural film like appearance with a thin layer of convincingly compressed grain and shows no signs of artificial tampering such as edge enhancement or DNR. Detail is decent, always appearing to reveal the fine textures one expects from a modern high definition transfer, but this isn’t an overly sharp or rich palette. “Is Anybody There?” won’t knock your socks off, but I feel that it accurately reproduces the theatrical exhibition and adheres to the directors intended style.
Audio
Magnolia Home Entertainment includes one audio option on “Is Anybody There?” in the form of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) track. It’s actually a pretty surprising mix; although the film is mostly quiet and subdued, leading me to originally think that this was going to be another mediocre soundtrack like most other dramas these days, there is an extremely satisfying subtlety to the sound design. Take a minute and listen to the acoustic atmosphere of the retirement home; muffled, whispered dialogue from rooms away and floors below are actually still intelligible and believably placed in the surround channels. Likewise, there is a nice, noticeable simplicity to the films sound that is handled well. The only real complaint here is Joby Talbot’s score; I didn’t much care for it to be honest. But, otherwise, this lossless mix does a fine job and is really a sneaky thing that will surprise the heck out of you if you listen closely. Optional subtitles are included in English and Spanish.
Extras
“Is Anybody There?” may as well be a barebones release. I respect filmmakers, like Woody Allen, who wish for their films to speak for themselves and thus do not include any supplements, but this disc is not one of those cases. I know this because a collection of deleted scenes, usually the most guarded of all extras, do make an appearance here; had the filmmaker wished for the film to stand on it’s own, I really doubt that he would have okayed a series of mediocre deletions as the sole supplemental material if he really did not wanted any extras at all. Worse yet, besides the bonus trailers, nothing here is encoded in high-definition. Yep, that’s right; the deleted scenes are presented in standard definition only. The only real extra, a collection of 5 deleted scenes, running a total of 7 minutes 7 seconds, is generally decent. The deletions, including a bit with Edwards mother, are certainly worth watching but, it’s a shame that the only extra of any context in on this disc are these barebones scenes; without an audio commentary or introductions by director John Crowley, they are only half as good as they could have been. Personally, I would have liked to know a bit more about the cuts and the roles that they played in the overall product. Finally, a few pre-menu bonus trailers, all encoded in high-definition, are included: - “The Answer Man.” 2 minutes 28 seconds. - “Food Inc.” 2 minutes 2 seconds. - “The Great Buck Howard.” 2 minutes 32 seconds. - “World’s Greatest Dad.” 1 minute 41 seconds. - "HDNET" promo. 1 minute 2 seconds. The disc also includes a standard bookmarking feature. Like most of Magnolia’s recent Blu-ray releases “Is Anybody There?” is BD-Live enabled, but contains no exclusive content. When I clicked the link it gave me a message to check back later for updates. As the disc has been on the street for about a month as of this writing, I doubt the distributor plans on offering any web-based extras for this title.
Packaging
Good performances do little to save this otherwise directionless, but heartfelt film. The Blu-ray release from Magnolia Home Entertainment sports decent video and a surprising lossless audio track. Unfortunately, the disc falls short in the extras department with less than 10 minutes of material relating to the film. The disc is worth a look, if only because “Is Anybody There?” features an excellent performance from Sir Michael Caine.
Overall
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