Is There Anybody There?

IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? (2008) - Sept. 7, 2008
About a young boy whose house doubles as a retirement home (much to his chagrin), who winds up striking up a friendship with an aging magician, played beautifully by Michael Caine. The film was directed by John Crowley, who also made what was easily the best movie of the festival last year, Boy A. This was a rather gigantic step down from that. It was probably a bit too quirky for its own good, and just wasn't really able to hold my interest for the whole 92 minutes. It was at its best during the scenes with Michael Caine and the kid -- they both have great chemistry together, and both performances are quite excellent. Unfortunately, there's a lot of extraneous stuff with the quirky residents of the retirement home, when all we really want to see is Michael Caine and the kid interacting. Watching this film, it's pretty clear that Mark O'Rowe -- the writer of Crowley's two previous films -- had an equal hand in the success of those movies. After the phenomenal Boy A, there was really nowhere to go but down for John Crowley, I was just hoping it wouldn't be this far down. **1/2