* LA DERNIÈRE ENQUÊTE DE SHERLOCK HOLMES / FRENCH / 15M / 2010
— The English translation of this short is The Last Investigation of Sherlock Holmes. — Vincent Aubert as Sherlock Holmes and Michel Moulin as John Watson. — Directed by Gaël Grobéty and distributed by Monster Entertainment. — Favorite Quality: I really liked the premise; I think the reasons why I was upset were intentional.
This short film is evil; it is wicked! I’ve never watched something done so well that elicited visceral rage inside me—I almost could not finish watching it. This short is not bad, but it made me want to pull my teeth out at some parts, and the ending had me so frustrated I needed to take a twenty-minute break before finishing it. Alright, the film. I think the most significant critique of this short is the camera work; though I will be gentle as this was a lower-budget project, there were times when the screen was shaking just a little too much. It wasn’t enough to give me proper motion sickness, but it was well on its way especially combined with the graininess of the film. This movie almost gave me everything I wanted in an aged Sherlock and John: two retired older men who raise bees and go camping together. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but it gave me so much and then took it away in a confusing and upsetting story that continued to raise the tension throughout. The notes that I took while watching this short go from soft fondness to increasing confusion, to uncontrollable rage, and then to a feeling of utter heartbreak. When I talk about how much this short film upset me, I am doing it in a way explaining that I am upset with what happened but not with the film itself. While I do feel like the characters were out-of-character, that was also part of the story, so I don’t want to be nit-picky in that regard, but I also think that they knew what they were doing while writing this piece. The English subtitles were also not good, they were part of the premiere screening, but they don’t flow well and often disappear and reappear for the same scene. Aesthetically this movie is dull, but it takes place in the forest, so you can’t expect it to be visually breathtaking. I don’t want to watch this short again, I’m not sure I want to recommend it, but that also feels somewhat contradictory when I say that it isn’t a bad adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. It’s just a little frustrating, and it left me feeling more upset than excited about another piece of media completed. I love retired John and Sherlock, but I don’t think this film is for me.