Enola Holmes

I'm always up fir a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, so when I saw that Netflix was releasing a film called Enola Holmes I was right there It's a charming work, highlighted by the lead performance by Millie Bobby Brown in the title role. It's based on a series of books by Nancy Springer concerning the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. It seems she has some of the sleuthing ability of her older brother.

Brown is much younger than her two brothers, who left home long ago and don't even recognize her when she picks them up at the train station. They have come home because their mother, Helena Bonham Carter, has gone missing. Mycroft (Sam Claflinn) is a cantankerous prig, who wants to put Brown in a finishing school, so she can learn to be a lady. She runs away, and comes across a Marquess (Louis Partridge) who is also on the run, but he is being stalked my a murderer. She eventually decides to help him, as she sees him as vulnerable.

She ends up solving the case of who is trying to kill Partridge before Sherlock does. The one thing I didn't like about the film is that Sherlock is played by Henry Cavill, who is far too buff and good-looking to play Holmes. I'd never envision an actor who can play Superman could play Homes. But it's a minor detail and easily overlooked.

An extra layer of social context is laid over the film is that Carter has left because she belongs to a radical group of suffragettes, who are storing gunpowder for some reason, giving the film a historical context as well.

This is well done all around. I think Brown is a child performer who, if she wishes, can continue playing into adulthood--another Jodie Foster or Saorsie Ronan, who are the models for this. I hope there will be more Enola Holmes films, starring \Brown.