Is Anybody There?
Dir: John Crowley
2008
***
I liked the overall idea of Is Anybody There? but I hated the direction. The performances were very good, maybe apart from David Morrissey but then his character is very badly written so I don't entirely blame him. Young Bill Milner is brilliant and really lifts the film, as do the elderly actors who play the residence of the old peoples home but unfortunately their screen time is limited. If you have hired the brilliant Leslie Phillips then why wouldn't you use him? (Indeed, Leslie Phillips spoke up against the film when it was released as he said it had been completely changed from the story he and the other elderly actors had been told of) The middle of the film turns into a convoluted farce and takes away any credibility the film might have had, it is purely the relationship between Michael Caine and Bill Milner that keeps the film alive. It is down to their performances rather than the writing though in my opinion. It is the tenderness between the two that really makes it worth seeing.