Keeping up with the Holmeses
THE FIRST TIME ON SCREEN PROVES OH-SO-ELEMENTARY FOR SHERLOCK’S YOUNG SISTER ENOLA
Drawn from the popular series of YA mystery novels by Nancy Springer, this lively and engaging all-ages adventure charts the famous family tree of Sherlock Holmes from a distinctly fresh feminine perspective.
As we all know, the shrewd and sharp Sherlock has long enjoyed a reputation as the world’s most dynamically deductive detective. Real fans will also be aware the fabled investigator has a comparatively mediocre and meddlesome brother, Mycroft.
So where does Enola fit into all of this? Well, as posited by Springer, she is the (much) younger sister of the Holmes brothers. Precocious in all the ways that point to a future in superior sleuthing, Enola shares plenty in common with Sherlock, and nothing at all with Mycroft.
Played most vividly by Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, Enola has been raised solo by eccentric mother (Helena Bonham Carter).
Having just turned 16, Enola soon discovers there will an added emphasis on the word ‘solo’ from hereon in. Her mother has disappeared into thin air, you see. The exact what, why, where and how of the case are just a few of the many mysteries Enola will have to crack by the movie’s end. Luckily, her missing mum was thoughtful enough to leave behind an elegantly engineered chain of clues.
Unluckily, that blowhard Mycroft (Sam Claflin) thinks this would be a great time for the tomboyish Enola to be bundled off to finishing school l to learn some ladylike ways.
Sherlock (Henry Cavill) isn’t on the same hardline page as his bro, but is not about to intercede, either. All of which leaves Enola no choice but to make a run for it, ditching her idyllic country home for the grimy streets of London town.
With another teen runaway for backup — the young Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) is very much Enola’s own Dr Watson — our heroine steps up the search for her predisposed parent. Not only must she match wits with some quality Victorian-era villains. There is also the prospect of Enola’s older siblings trying to haul her back to the safety of home.
Despite its two-hour running time, Enola Holmes barrels along with stacks of energy, intellect and playful wit to spare. Any household with kids complaining there is nothing worthwhile to watch during current or coming school holidays should be pointed in this direction immediately.
Now streaming on Netflix
THE HIGH NOTE (M)
DIRECTOR: Nisha Ganatra (Late Night)
STARRING: Tracee Ellis Ross, Dakota Johnson, Ice Cube. RATING: hhhk
Reaches, hits and holds
For such a feelbad year, 2020 has come up unfeasibly short on feel-good films.
Therefore the arrival of The High Note — easily the best sustained burst of positivity to hit a screen in the past 12 months — should be cause for celebration for the glass-halffull crowd.
While the movie does cater to all appetites in an effortlessly endearing manner, it is in no way content to merely have us settle for a serving of emptycalorie escapism.
The High Note has both soul and smarts. Just like its two female protagonists: a veteran music diva of many moods, Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross); and her longsuffering, ever-obliging personal assistant, Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson). A woman of colour well past the age of 40, Grace already knows her use-by date has come and gone in terms of contemporary music. She is now free to cash in her chips for a career well done with a lucrative residency i in Las Vegas, if that will ill make her happy. Of course, for a singersongwriter of her rare calibre, such a move will be a creative death sentence for Grace. What she doesn’t count on is that it could be the lowly paid and highly taken-for-granted Maggie that may come to the rescue.
Maggie has designs upon becoming a music producer, and is using every second of her limited spare time to get that dream rolling. What she needs to do is have Grace listen to her as a collaborator, and not look at her as the hired help.
Though navigating familiar territory, The High Note holds its appeal strongly throughout, thanks largely to a pair of topnotch lead performances from the relatively unknown Ross (a daughter of the great singer Diana) and the unfairly maligned Johnson (now putting the shaky start of Fifty Shades Of Grey far behind her).