"Whistle and I'll Come to You" (2010)
Andy de Emmony re-imagining of Jonathon Millers 1968 version of Whistle, Is quite a different beast compared to Millers version,Gone is the whistle,replaced by a ring, and instead of an eccentric academic we get a more cohesive portrayal by John Hurt as a retired Astronomer.Seemingly wracked with guilt for leaving his wife who is suffering from dementia in a care home,Parkins (Hurt) is persuaded to take a break himself and visit a quite coastal town that he and his wife use to visit.The off season town,is a wind swept and ominous place that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his holiday to come. Re-makes are a lot like cover versions of songs,you either copy them exactly (whats the point,look at Gus Van Sant 's Psycho (1998) ) or you change it enough to make it your own but still identifiable to the fans.There are quite a bit of differences between the two films,but then again theirs quite a few difference between Jonathon Millers film and MR James original story, you could spend all day arguing the toss and nit picking about the difference between all three versions.What Andy de Emmony and Neil Cross have concentrated on is the fear of loneliness and the loss of a loved one with Parkins guilt fueling his fears. Even though Parkins wife isn't dead,her advanced stage of senility and her almost comatose state of mind makes it impossible for Parkin's to take care of her. "Who is this, who is coming?", The major change is that the whistle has been replaced by a ring with the inscription "Who is this, who is coming?", which Parkins then recites out loud,of course this is when his troubles really start to begin. It goes without saying John Hurt gives us his usual top performance,he plays a man wracked with guilt and scared to death in equal measure. Im afraid any subtlety that the film had built is soon blown away by its Hauntingesque banging of doors,and then we even get J-Horror style apparition towards the end. "Whistle and I'll Come to You" redux definitely has the spirit of MR James at its roots,with a creeping fear following Parkin we nearly get a classic,but the build up to its finale does seem to pander to a modern audience.
out of 5