Film Stuff: Mr. Holmes

I don't know what is it with our society but often we perceive "getting old" as a taboo topic to address. Sure, getting old ain't pretty. Sure getting old reminds us of dying but then where else is our lives is going to go if not towards death? If you have another end result of life that equates to eternity, holla at me.

I think the film Mr. Holmes addresses this stigma quite well and very much endearing as well. Sherlock Holmes has always been known at his prime age. He is a genius, a sociopath, witty, awkward and all of the adjectives that we love to love in a character. But when you fast forward him to when he is 90++ years old, he is still all of that, but not the whole of all of that. 

It was painful for me to watch my beloved fictional figure to deteriorate with age.

What really killed me was when Mr. Holmes, one who has never been able to grasp the concept of loneliness, understood it when he is at the brink of his life. He had to accept the fact that his entire existence was quintessentially lonely.

The characters involved were not a lot, just 4 or 5 in total. And there were no explosions or car chases or gunshots. There was just a man at the edge of his life with nothing. Ian McKellen did well. I can't imagine anyone else better to play a retired Mr. Holmes.

All in all, that is the hard fact that we need to stop avoiding and just deal with. You never know if you are going to live to be a senile, fragile and a lonely hundred year old man.

Go and watch it if you ever have the time.

l8r,
Jaz.