Review of Mr. Holmes (2015) by Steve M — 25 Jul 2015

Just watched a Sherlock Holmes movie with my parents, where my dad actually didn't fully understand it, but I did and was able to explain it fully. Never felt prouder as a filmmaker.

The central message of the film is that as human beings, we cannot rely solely on logic for solutions. There is not a more powerful way to convey this than hearing it from the greatest detective, a man of logic and evidence who didn't respect "fiction.".

The main plot of the movie, as it is written on the imdb page, is to see Holmes grapple an unresolved case. It isn't that Holmes was unable to depict all the facts and motives of the case - he did - but that he doesn't understand why the woman killed herself even after their "resolving" talk that got her rid of the poison and disrupting matters in her life. My dad, also a man of sole logic, did not comprehend it either. My explanation is that Holmes first thought he did not actually succeed at the case in that he missed a detail and did not foresee her future (literally and figuratively), which filled him with "guilt and useless, worthless feelings" that eventually led him to his retirement. He finally admitted that human emotions are some things logic can not explain, and realized that that was what was missing in his detective work. His decline in acknowledging that feelings exist and are inexplicable things led him to his loneliness, which was visually illustrated as he declined the woman's offer to "be alone together" because he was "fearful." Emotions were not something he understood, and naturally people fear what they don't know. After Roger's incident, where he bursted with emotions - something we never see anywhere else in the movie except the end - he came to embrace emotions and acknowledged that fiction, when used to account for someone's emotions, is... eh, not that bad! So he concluded his business with Mr Umezaki with his first fiction to comfort the man.

There is a lot of camera movement in the film. Mostly dolly reveal shots and truck shots where a lot of obstacles are in between the character and the camera. Ann's most important line to Holmes and in the movie was something along the lines of "the dead are just on the other side of the wall." A term filmmakers use to describe flamboyant, frequent camera movements as such is "self-conscious." The camera is self-conscious and is constantly peeking from behind a wall with the dolly reveal shots and following characters horizontally with obstacles between them...hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm need I say more?

Besides the macro shots which are obviously calls to attend the details since it is a Sherlock Holmes movie, there are a lot of close-ups of Holmes' face. The modern technology allows us to see every little detail on his wrinkly face, something that even made me stare and think "wow, technology." Why is that so interesting for us to look at? I'm sure I'm not the only one who stares intently when we see something super high-definition (think back to the last time you were in a Costco or Best Buy looking at the new 4K TVs). Following the film's theme, my answer to that is: I don't know, it's also something logic can't explain. It just provides a new perspective. On the contrary of the close-ups, there are several times when it got cut to Medium Shots, followed by Long Shots very quickly, once again making the film self-conscious by letting you see the edits, but also giving you a breather visually and mentally.

This is once again my immediate spurt right after the movie, so i'm sure i'm missing a lot of other schtuff. but that's it for now, peace out holmie! XD.