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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Is Anybody There? (2008/Magnolia DVD)

Is Anybody There? (2008/Magnolia DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

Michael Caine is good at playing downbeat and down on his luck, but no matter how good his performance is, it cannot help John Crowley’s somewhat ambitious drama Is Anybody There? (2008) work.  Besides Caine repeating himself (he is a magician, he is homeless, he is angry, he has nobody, he is wise, he knows he is at his life’s end, etc.) he meets a young boy (Bill Milner) who he does not like at first, but…

 

You can see how you have seen this film before and Crowley, who also directed the celebrated Boy A (2007) does try to make this work as a warm tale of real magic versus mere tricks, but that now common Spielbergian theme does not mix well at all with the realism attempted here.  Peter Harness’ script is not awful, but offers nothing new and the result is barely able to fill 94 minutes without being dull.  David Morrissey, Peter Vaughan and Elizabeth Spriggs (in her last role) also star.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is shockingly weak, even for a Super 35mm production (even on Fuji 35mm film) with bad detail, very weak Video Black and a color-challenged look that has as much to do with the transfer as anything else.  A Blu-ray was also issued, but we did not get it in time for this posting.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes are about the same as this is a low-budget film with limited soundfield and is dialogue-based.  Joby Talbot’s score is one of the few things engaging the surrounds.  Deleted Scenes are the only extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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