Magnolia Home Entertainment adds another foreign title with the Blu-ray release of Is Anybody There? on November 17th, 2009.

This British drama is the story of Edward who lives in his family’s home for the elderly.

Edward is fascinated with the afterlife, and runs experiments to contact the dead.

When retired magician Clarence arrives at the rest home, he seems even more annoying to Edward than current residents, though eventually the two become friends.

Relationships develop as they all cope with the loss of loved ones, the idiosyncrasies of the elderly residents and frustrations and regrets from life’s decisions.

Overall I found the movie to be a fairly satisfying drama with a decent mix of lighter and sadder moments.

The performances were strong, with Michael Caine in the role of Clarence and Edward played by Bill Milner from Son of Rambow, while David Morrissey and Anne-Marie Duff played the roles of Edward’s parents.

Is Anybody There? was directed by John Crowley, the director of the British films Intermission and Boy A.

With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 65% and an IMDb score of 7.1/10, the movie had a fairly average reception from the critics.

Is Anybody There? earned $2M at the US box office.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080p encode at 24 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

Check out the details page for Is Anybody There? to see full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a single layer BD25, with 22.8 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

The disc includes a selection of deleted scenes and also BD Live Network features.

The Is Anybody There? Blu-ray release from Magnolia Home Entertainment is light on supplements, though the film is one I can recommend to fans of the British drama.

The retail price is $29.98, or order it right now at Amazon for $17.99, saving 40%!

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes

Synopsis:

Ten-year-old Edward lives in his family-run retirement home. While his mother struggles to keep the family business afloat and his father copes with the onset of a mid-life crisis, Edward leads an increasingly lonely existence until he meets Clarence (Caine), a retired magician and grieving widower who refuses to give in gracefully to old age. The two strike up an unlikely friendship that helps them both remember what magic is possible when life is lived to its fullest.

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