IS ANYBODY THERE? tells the story of EDWARD (BILL MILNER), a boy fascinated with the afterlife, who is growing up in an old person’s home (naturally) run by his MUM and DAD. CLARENCE (MICHAEL CAINE) arrives at the house per orders of the local social service office and he and Edward begin an unlikely companionship. The result is an agreeable mixture of humor and tension, but only a surface deep study on the conditions of life, death and family.
IS ANYBODY THERE? isn’t the kind of film that is going to win Oscars, despite the occasional (and obvious) heartstring script moments, but that these aren’t force fed to us keeps the picture enjoyable (or at least competent). CROWLEY certainly uses MICHAEL CAINE as much as he could and still have the picture make sense, but it was surprising to learn how secondary CAINE turned out to be. And CAINE isn't at fault here, rather just overshadowed a particularly talented supporting cast.
The supporting players are led by BILL MILNER – a gifted young actor who comes from SON OF RAMBOW fame and plays Edward with the emotional volatility you'd expect of a nine year old boy. Without friends at school, and lacking any consistent attention from MUM and DAD; EDWARD's world is filled with tape recording empty rooms and bizarre experiments with the hope of discovering paranormal activity. We also meet his MUM and DAD, played brilliantly by ANNE-MARIE DUFF and DAVID MORRISSEY respectively, and become privy to their marital struggles. MUM and DAD have it rough; challenged for money on one hand and DAD's wandering eyes on the other. But learning of their relationship through EDWARD'S POV is handled with grace and precision - and keeps their struggles on a human and believable level.
Rounding out the cast is ELSIE, played by ROSEMARY HARRIS - who many will recognize from her role as AUNT MAY in the SPIDER-MAN franchise. Of the elder patients in the ward, we are closest to ELSIE - and appropriately so, as she is the only one who instigates interaction among her peer group. The others have a variety of ailments - but like the sappy script moments, we are never pounded over the head by their quirkiness and instead are able to enjoy them as they come and go. And as they go, EDWARD is sure to conduct experiments in the rooms where they died - and we find his findings aren't limited to the paranormal. It's also worth noting that CROWLEY moves from an emotionally tense scene to one that requires nothing but smiles and giggles effortlessly, another notch in the peg of things done right in this picture.
As it turns out, CROWLEY'S IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? is more a sequence of endearing peeks into people's lives and less a tale with an overarching theme. Issues aren't circumnavigated - for instance CLARENCE is revealed to be suffering from the onset of dementia - but they are presented as secondary to the people they afflict, leaving the audience to decide for themselves what to think. Sadly for me, the picture failed to instigate any such thoughts - and in the increasingly difficult to solve for melodrama genre, I suspect IS ANYBODY THERE? will simply sift into the forgotten.
