Greetings again from the darkness. I will always pay to see Michael Caine act. I have always found his relaxed, natural approach to be fascinating, entertaining and mostly effective. As the Amazing Clarence, an elderly career magician, he is just fantastic. This may be the first role where he has actually gone out of his way to look older than he actually is.

When he checks himself into a home for the elderly, he befriends the young son of the owner. The boy is played by Bill Milner who was exceptional in "Son of Rambow". His mom is played by Ann-Marie Duffy and she loves her son, but just doesn't have the time and energy to devote to him (or her husband) as she dedicates herself to the tenants.

The best part of the film is watching Mr Caine and young Milner interact. Their time is magical, pun intended. The sad thing is ... this is the only part of the film that works. The rest is a bit lame and certainly not up to the standard of "Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont".

Regardless, the film is worth seeing for the performance of Michael Caine. One of his best in years and really captures the pain of getting old and slowly losing one's self.

Have you ever seen a film that has wonderful acting but is so utterly depressing that as you watch it, you're tempted to stuff your head into an oven? If not, and you actually want to, try watching "Is Anyone There?"--an incredibly depressing film starring Michael Caine and a young actor, Bill Miner.

Edward (Miner) lives in an old folks home run by his parents. Basically, the place is full of people either waiting to die or who are out of touch with reality--a great place for a kid to grow up in, I know. An elderly magician, Clarence (Michael Caine) moves in and at first, he's hostile towards the boy. But the kid is VERY curious (sometime in ways that you wonder if he needs therapy) and eventually the two become friends....and then Clarence dies. Sure, stuff happens in between, but the film is about dying and loss, so this is the main thrust of the film. In addition, the boy deals with learning that his father wants to be unfaithful and he watches a guy get his finger chopped off. All in all, really depressing stuff and although much of this is the sort of stuff we have to deal with, do you really want to see a film like this? Great acting but utterly depressing and awful.

It's 80's England. Edward is an angry young boy. His mother has turned the family home into an old age home. He has lost his room to one of the old folks. His father is going through a mid-life crisis. He has questions about death and uses his tape recorder on the old people. One day, Clarence (Michael Caine) arrives almost running him over with his van. He's a magician suffering from the lost of his love. The two bitter souls find friendship and salvation in each other.

It's a little dark comedy. The movie is best with Michael Caine and the little kid together. It would have been great if they take off on an extended road trip away from that grim home. It would have given Caine more screen time and the home is too grim. Caine does big emotional acting although it could have been great to have more broad comedy. Caine and the kid are good together. There are a couple of big powerful acting scenes for Caine.