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AWAKENINGS
Penny Marshall put herself on the map as a director with the 1988 comedy classic Big, but she created her masterpiece with 1990's Awakenings, a disturbing, powerful, challenging, and heartbreaking fact-based drama that takes a frighteningly realistic look at the challenges of mental illness, the gamble sometimes involved in psychotropic drugs, and the real power of love and friendship. This film stirred a myriad of emotions and found me fighting tears throughout.
Based on the book by Dr. Oliver Sachs, this film introduces us to Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams), a research physician who accepts a job at a mental facility in the Bronx in 1969 working with catatonic patients, despite the fact that he has never worked directly with patients before. Dealing up close and personal with actual people is virgin territory for Sayer, who is initially frightened by his patients but he does manage to find a common thread in the illness of a group of patients and reaches out to one in particular, a Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), who has been in a catatonic state for over 30 years, but a new drug initiates an "awakening" in Leonard, which motivates Sayer to try the drug on the rest of the patients with the same condition, producing varied reactions.
Sayer develops a connection with Leonard and begins garnering respect from the rest of the hospital staff, but just as Leonard looks to be on the verge of resuming a normal life, he experiences a horrible backslide that is heartbreaking to watch as Sayer becomes consumed with guilt while Leonard just wants him to use what is happening to help other patients in the future.
I have referred to Marshall's direction as being over-indulgent in the past, but this is one example where her care and sensitivity to the story being told pays off in spades...Marshall allows this story to unfold in layers and gives us insightful looks into these characters. She shows through flashback what happened to Leonard and then through a look at his home life, how Sayer is the last person who should be able to help him...love when they show Sayer open his refrigerator at home and there's nothing in it but plants for his research. Marshall lets the camera pan over a variety of patients in the facility and gives us a complete sense of how varied yet unique mental illness can be and the 50/50 gamble where a possible cure is concerned.
Steven Zaillian's screenplay is intelligent and uncompromising, offering no easy answers to the story and Marshall respects the story, making it sure it always remains center stage. Marshall is also to be applauded for the startling work she has pulled from her clearly hand-picked cast, who deliver the goods...Robert DeNiro's intense and heartbreaking Leonard earned him an Oscar nomination and Williams beautifully underplays as Sayer, allowing De Niro's character to roar, as it should. Mention should also be made of Julie Kavner as Sayer's loyal assistant, Eleanor, John Heard as an administrative thorn in Sayer's side, similar to his role in Big, Ruth Nelson as Leonard's mother and a handful of veteran character actors doing controlled but effective work as Leonard's fellow patients, who are all given a chance to shine, with grand assists from Zaillian and Marshall.
This film is not an easy watch, and unless you're a heartless monster, some tears will be fought during this cinematic journey, but the journey is worth it and it's due mostly to the masterful work of director Penny Marshall.
Penny Marshall put herself on the map as a director with the 1988 comedy classic Big, but she created her masterpiece with 1990's Awakenings, a disturbing, powerful, challenging, and heartbreaking fact-based drama that takes a frighteningly realistic look at the challenges of mental illness, the gamble sometimes involved in psychotropic drugs, and the real power of love and friendship. This film stirred a myriad of emotions and found me fighting tears throughout.
Based on the book by Dr. Oliver Sachs, this film introduces us to Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams), a research physician who accepts a job at a mental facility in the Bronx in 1969 working with catatonic patients, despite the fact that he has never worked directly with patients before. Dealing up close and personal with actual people is virgin territory for Sayer, who is initially frightened by his patients but he does manage to find a common thread in the illness of a group of patients and reaches out to one in particular, a Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), who has been in a catatonic state for over 30 years, but a new drug initiates an "awakening" in Leonard, which motivates Sayer to try the drug on the rest of the patients with the same condition, producing varied reactions.
Sayer develops a connection with Leonard and begins garnering respect from the rest of the hospital staff, but just as Leonard looks to be on the verge of resuming a normal life, he experiences a horrible backslide that is heartbreaking to watch as Sayer becomes consumed with guilt while Leonard just wants him to use what is happening to help other patients in the future.
I have referred to Marshall's direction as being over-indulgent in the past, but this is one example where her care and sensitivity to the story being told pays off in spades...Marshall allows this story to unfold in layers and gives us insightful looks into these characters. She shows through flashback what happened to Leonard and then through a look at his home life, how Sayer is the last person who should be able to help him...love when they show Sayer open his refrigerator at home and there's nothing in it but plants for his research. Marshall lets the camera pan over a variety of patients in the facility and gives us a complete sense of how varied yet unique mental illness can be and the 50/50 gamble where a possible cure is concerned.
Steven Zaillian's screenplay is intelligent and uncompromising, offering no easy answers to the story and Marshall respects the story, making it sure it always remains center stage. Marshall is also to be applauded for the startling work she has pulled from her clearly hand-picked cast, who deliver the goods...Robert DeNiro's intense and heartbreaking Leonard earned him an Oscar nomination and Williams beautifully underplays as Sayer, allowing De Niro's character to roar, as it should. Mention should also be made of Julie Kavner as Sayer's loyal assistant, Eleanor, John Heard as an administrative thorn in Sayer's side, similar to his role in Big, Ruth Nelson as Leonard's mother and a handful of veteran character actors doing controlled but effective work as Leonard's fellow patients, who are all given a chance to shine, with grand assists from Zaillian and Marshall.
This film is not an easy watch, and unless you're a heartless monster, some tears will be fought during this cinematic journey, but the journey is worth it and it's due mostly to the masterful work of director Penny Marshall.