As the most classic detective image, Sherlock Holmes has always been a hit on the screen, and there are quite a few adaptations of film and television works. In the past ten years, as far as I have seen, there are "Sherlock Holmes" series starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, produced by BBC, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The series "Sherlock", the series "Basic Deduction" starring Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. In 2013, Russia also filmed a version of "Sherlock Holmes".
If I say my favorite and most impressive Sherlock Holmes movie, now I would not hesitate to choose the movie directed by Bill Condon and starring Ian McLean - "Mr. Holmes" (Mr. Holmes).
Raymond Chandler believes: "The ideal mystery novel is one that can be read even if it has no ending." As a loyal fan of Chandler, I deeply agree, and I think this point of view extends to film and television works. The same is established. Going forward, suppose that even if the final outcome is known, the reasoning work that can still attract you to read is the most ideal reasoning work.
The difference between "Mr. Sherlock" and other detective films lies in its unique narrative style.
General detective novels and movies are basically unfolded in a linear forward narrative, and occasionally the story is told in flashbacks. Yet Mr. Holmes is neither a forward narration nor a flashback, but instead jumps back and forth between the present and two memories, interlacing and advancing the story to its final conclusion, if there is one.
If you are a reader of Kazuo Ishiguro, or have just read Kazuo Ishiguro's novels, it is easy to find that this narrative mode is not what Kazuo Ishiguro is best at? Coincidentally, Ishiguro has always been a lover of detective novels, and the characters he admired and imitated in his boyhood naturally included the great detective Sherlock Holmes.
So, let me introduce the plot of Mr. Holmes.
The film is based on the novel A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin. The background is set shortly after the end of World War II. Sherlock Holmes is 90 years old, his life partner Watson has died, and he has retired for more than 20 years, living in seclusion in the countryside to pass the time with beekeeping.
As he grows older, memory declines attack the famed detective. However, a mystery unsolved twenty years ago has always haunted him, and it was because of this case that he made the decision to retire. Sherlock Holmes, who felt that his time was short, decided to restart and completely closed the case. But as he went deeper into the case step by step, he found that everything was different from what he remembered.
I had not read Kazuo Ishiguro's novel when I watched this movie. Looking back now, I can't help but slap the desk and shout, yes, time and memory, self-deception, and deep-seated emotions, aren't these the most important themes of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels?
In addition, many plots and scenes in the film all give people a sense of sight in Kazuo Ishiguro's novels. For example, Sherlock Holmes is obsessed with his own profession, and refuses to entrust his wife's feelings, which reminds people of the conscientious British housekeeper Stevenson in "The Long Days End"; pretending to stay in England as an assistant to Sherlock Holmes, but in fact abandoning his wife and children The Japanese man in 2008 reminds me of Christopher Banks' father who suddenly disappeared in "The Orphan"; Holmes' visit to the nuclear bomb ruins in Hiroshima reminds people of Nagasaki in "The Shadow of the Far Mountains" and "The Painter of the Ukiyo World" .
In this film, the elderly Sherlock Holmes played by Ian McLean is the most lonely, powerless, and hesitant, but to a certain extent, the most tender and real Sherlock Holmes.
This time, he's not facing a cunning criminal, an intractable puzzle. He faced inevitable aging, memories that were no longer secure, and complex emotions deep inside.
Those flashy moments of ability, knowledge, intuition, and genius that helped him succeed in his career in the past are no longer useful, but have become the biggest "accomplices".
There's been a trend in "Sherlock Holmes" movies in recent years. Not just Sherlock Holmes movies, but all detective genre movies and TV shows seem to have this trend. That is to reinforce the rivalry between the detective partners, emphasizing their interaction. Whether it is idolized packaging or catering to a new generation of audiences. After all, this is the era we live in. Although the creators of detective films are constantly seeking changes and innovations, as a commercialized genre film, it seems difficult to jump out of a specific frame.
But "Mr. Sherlock Holmes" gives another possibility, just as Raymond Chandler's novels provide a way and possibility for the genre of detective novels to enter the literary temple.
"Mr. Holmes" made us realize that a detective film is not just an entertaining commercial film, but also an artistically expressive film. Detective movies not only rely on dramatic opponents, brainstorming puzzles, disturbing sensory stimulation, and vulgar jokes to attract audiences, but can create emotions and lay out delicate emotions.
So, in my opinion, Bill Condon's "Mr. Sherlock Holmes" is the most literary Sherlock Holmes movie and the best Sherlock Holmes movie in recent years.
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