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K-PAX
(directed by Iain Softley, 2001)
Kevin Spacey gobbles down a bunch of bananas in K-PAX, a movie in which he plays a man who says he's really a visitor from outer space. This puts him in the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute where a psychiatrist named Mark (played by Jeff Bridges) treats him and hopes to bring him out of his severe delusion -- or is it really a delusion?
I saw K-PAX back when it first came out in 2001 -- even went to the movies to see it -- and I loved it at the time. It's been I dunno how many years since I last saw it and I suddenly found myself with a desire to watch it again. At first the movie seemed kind of dated going back to it... check out the computers. It had hints of a 1990s era movie that still hadn't adjusted to the new century. To me, the nostalgia was nice. The movie got better as it went on, becoming something I could understand why Kevin Spacey, a recent Academy Award winner at the time, would take on as a project.
K-PAX is a look at a man who is mentally ill after going through a severe trauma, but the film plays with the possibility that maybe he really is who he says he is -- an alien from a far away planet called K-PAX. It sort of works both ways -- you can believe he's really an alien, or you can believe he's really a man who's sick. I believe he's a man who's sick, but when I first saw this years ago, I entertained the possibility more that he was an alien.
He speaks to Jeff Bridges about his alien world, a place where marriage doesn't happen and sex between his K-PAXian people is extremely painful, nauseating and even stinky. (Wonder what Kevin Spacey's sex life is like?) He also has a stunning ability with the other mentally ill people at the Institute -- he can reach them and even heal them. It's not as supernatural as it sounds, though. He merely speaks to them or gives them tasks to do. Anybody could do it, but Prot (that's the alien's name) has an uncanny thing with these guys -- it also helps that he claims to be an alien, too, and that fascinates them. It also helps that this is a movie and of course in a movie all of the crazy people at a mental hospital can be easily taken in by a sunglasses wearing Kevin Spacey who probably got lost on his way to Fire Island.
The movie really, in my opinion, doesn't fully come to life until late in the film when they take a final approach to try to bring Prot out of his delusion through the use of hypnosis. That's when those of us skeptical of this guy's claims of being an alien can finally witness some real, serious work going on, both in regards to the story and the movie and the actors themselves. Finally shedding the somewhat annoying Prot persona, Kevin Spacey regresses to the person he really is (in several scenes) and finally we see a movie that is much more than a fantasy about some guy who might be an alien. Take note that we never, ever learn anything that the other characters don't know -- we're not secretly in-the-know that Kevin Spacey's character is an alien. We see what everyone else sees. There's never really anything else that hints that Kevin Spacey actually isn't a human being.
K-PAX is a marvelous, sweet little movie about connecting with other people and coming to terms with the humanity of others. It's not an outer space movie and it's not science fiction at all, but it plays with the fantasies of outer space and alien beings. It's a movie about mental illness, families, friendships, comforting others and getting in touch with your human side.
One of the best roles that I think Kevin Spacey has played. The movie still holds up and I was glad to revisit it.
(directed by Iain Softley, 2001)
Kevin Spacey gobbles down a bunch of bananas in K-PAX, a movie in which he plays a man who says he's really a visitor from outer space. This puts him in the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute where a psychiatrist named Mark (played by Jeff Bridges) treats him and hopes to bring him out of his severe delusion -- or is it really a delusion?
I saw K-PAX back when it first came out in 2001 -- even went to the movies to see it -- and I loved it at the time. It's been I dunno how many years since I last saw it and I suddenly found myself with a desire to watch it again. At first the movie seemed kind of dated going back to it... check out the computers. It had hints of a 1990s era movie that still hadn't adjusted to the new century. To me, the nostalgia was nice. The movie got better as it went on, becoming something I could understand why Kevin Spacey, a recent Academy Award winner at the time, would take on as a project.
K-PAX is a look at a man who is mentally ill after going through a severe trauma, but the film plays with the possibility that maybe he really is who he says he is -- an alien from a far away planet called K-PAX. It sort of works both ways -- you can believe he's really an alien, or you can believe he's really a man who's sick. I believe he's a man who's sick, but when I first saw this years ago, I entertained the possibility more that he was an alien.
He speaks to Jeff Bridges about his alien world, a place where marriage doesn't happen and sex between his K-PAXian people is extremely painful, nauseating and even stinky. (Wonder what Kevin Spacey's sex life is like?) He also has a stunning ability with the other mentally ill people at the Institute -- he can reach them and even heal them. It's not as supernatural as it sounds, though. He merely speaks to them or gives them tasks to do. Anybody could do it, but Prot (that's the alien's name) has an uncanny thing with these guys -- it also helps that he claims to be an alien, too, and that fascinates them. It also helps that this is a movie and of course in a movie all of the crazy people at a mental hospital can be easily taken in by a sunglasses wearing Kevin Spacey who probably got lost on his way to Fire Island.
The movie really, in my opinion, doesn't fully come to life until late in the film when they take a final approach to try to bring Prot out of his delusion through the use of hypnosis. That's when those of us skeptical of this guy's claims of being an alien can finally witness some real, serious work going on, both in regards to the story and the movie and the actors themselves. Finally shedding the somewhat annoying Prot persona, Kevin Spacey regresses to the person he really is (in several scenes) and finally we see a movie that is much more than a fantasy about some guy who might be an alien. Take note that we never, ever learn anything that the other characters don't know -- we're not secretly in-the-know that Kevin Spacey's character is an alien. We see what everyone else sees. There's never really anything else that hints that Kevin Spacey actually isn't a human being.
K-PAX is a marvelous, sweet little movie about connecting with other people and coming to terms with the humanity of others. It's not an outer space movie and it's not science fiction at all, but it plays with the fantasies of outer space and alien beings. It's a movie about mental illness, families, friendships, comforting others and getting in touch with your human side.
One of the best roles that I think Kevin Spacey has played. The movie still holds up and I was glad to revisit it.