Awakenings (8/10): In which Williams awakens the great De Niro

“People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded.”

       

Following the huge success of her 80’s comedy, Big, director Penny Marshall decided to approach a much more sensitive and serious subject matter in her next film based on Oliver Sacks’ semi-biographical book about his work in a ward with patients in catatonic state. Robin Williams was cast to play Dr. Sacks, although the character’s name was changed to Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy doctor who prior to have been hired at the ward had very little experience working with patients. He was obsessed with researching and doing lab work, but those skills came in handy when he began treating the catatonic patients at the ward. He discovered that several of the patients that had been in the ward for decades had one thing in common: they had survived a rare form of encephalitis, but the disease left them in their current catatonic state. Most of the doctors believed there was no treatment for these patients, but he began to discover that some of them responded to certain stimuli. Not giving up on them, he decides to attend a lecture where he discovers a new drug that had been effective on patients suffering from Parkinson’s, and he believes it might just help awake his patients as well. 

Casting Robin Williams for the role and having released this only two years after the commercial success of Big, one could easily have expected this to be a comedy, but casting Robert De Niro as the other lead easily put to rest that assumption. De Niro had also worked on Goodfellas the same year as this and he continued to be at the prime of his career. In Awakenings he plays Leonard Lowe, one of the patients who has remained in the same state for nearly four decades and who is still being cared for by his mother, Mrs. Lowe (Ruth Nelson), at the clinic. With the approval of the other doctors at the ward and Leonard’s mother, he is chosen for a trial run with the drug. It doesn’t take too long for Dr. Sayer to see the results he was expecting as Leonard seems to wake up from his catatonic state. The two begin to form a special bond and the positive results induce Sayer to test the drug on the rest of the patients in the ward in a similar way. As we become witnesses of Leonard’s awakening we also begin to see life through his eyes as someone who feels he has lost so many years and now wants to enjoy life to the fullest. His awakening serves the reclusive Doctor as a reminder to begin living life and enjoying human interaction. There is a sub plot revolving his relationship with a nurse from the ward played by Julie Kavner, but the main theme is Sayer’s relationship with these patients. 

Marshall’s film was nominated for Best Picture, and just like her previous movie it also earned a nomination for the lead actor, De Niro. De Niro does a superb job playing this awakened catatonic patient, and it is evident that he did his homework and studied every single facial and body tic of the real patients. Sacks had filmed his patients in real life during their awakening periods and so there was a lot of material they had to work with. Robin Williams plays a much more restrained character than what we were used to seeing him do, so his performance might not seem as delightful as his other films but he delivers a solid dramatic turn. The third nomination that the film received was for Steven Zaillian’s adapted screenplay which was powerful. He didn’t win the Oscar for this film, but he went on to win it two years later for his work in Schindler’s List. Spielberg said it was his adaptation in Awakenings that earned him the job for his film. This movie is emotional and touching without being manipulative because it sticks to the true story which was definitely one that had to be told in the big screen.         

My Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (8/10)

"I decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory."

Julian Schnabel's French film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is a powerful and emotional film about a man suffering from locked-in syndrome due to a stroke. Despite having his mental faculties intact, he is almost completely paralyzed and unable to communicate with the outside world. The once successful magazine editor is now living as a prisoner of his own body. The only muscle he is capable of moving is his left eye and with the help of a therapist he manages to communicate by blinking his eye. Mathieu Amalric gives a powerful performance as Jean-Dominique Bauby, and most of the film takes place from his point of view. Schnabel brilliantly and effectively uses camera angles to give the audience a glimpse of what this person's claustrophobic world was like. From the very opening scene we are hooked and drawn to Jean-Do's new world as he's trapped in his body. It is a very emotional film based on the autobiography written by Bauby himself who managed to write the book with the help of his therapist through the use of a communication system they developed. The sole fact that this man was able to write a book in the condition he was in, is reason enough for me to want to read his book or see a movie based on his life. It takes a lot of courage to open up the way Jean-Do did, and I think it is one of the main reasons why this film worked so well for audiences across the globe. It says a lot about how powerless we are against these illnesses, but at the same time we can also share Jean-Do's approach of learning to deal with his disability and facing the obstacles with optimism. He realized that despite being physically disabled he still had his mental faculties and was able to break those boundaries with the power of his imagination. I am also certain that this element is what caught director Schnabel's attention and what pushed him to make this film. He tells the story with such class that despite the emotional moments you never feel he was trying to be manipulative or force the audience into feeling a certain way. The performances in this film are also outstanding, making this an even more engaging movie. I also loved the beautiful imagery that Schnabel used, turning the film into a poem at times. 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a personal film for me considering that my father is going through a slightly similar experience as the character in this film. He suffered a stroke four years ago and hasn't been able to speak since. The right side of his body was paralyzed, but with help from therapy he has been able to walk again. Despite not being able to speak he understands everything and communicates with us through signs and facial expressions. The brave way in which he has managed to face his illness by always being in good spirits and not letting the disease get the best of him is a constant reminder for me of how much our attitude influences the way we approach life. He could be feeling sorry for himself, or he can stay positive and continue to improve with therapy in a similar way that Jean-Do did with his locked in syndrome. Having your mental capabilities intact is a major force considering you can escape those limitations in your mind and let your imagination fly. In a way, it was a turning point for Jean-Do when he realized this and Schnabel managed to capture those moments really well on camera. The scenes he shares with his family members are among my favorite in the film. I loved the scene in which he's in the beach with his ex-wife and kids. It is such an emotional scene but at the same time it felt authentic and real. The scenes with his father, played by Max von Sydow, are also extremely powerful and effective. You rarely see a biopic like this one, and Schnabel deserves all the credit for making an original and moving picture. 

My Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (8/10)

¨If things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding. ¨

This is Stephen Daldry`s fourth Oscar nominated film for Best Picture after his work in Billy Elliot, The Hours, and The Reader. Many critics seemed to have disliked this movie, and perhaps it may have to do with the fact that it didn’t measure up to some of his previous films. I however found Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close a very powerful and emotional film. It was hard not to get emotionally involved with this film that deals with the 9/11 attacks, although mainly targeted on how it affected one particular kid. Just like the kid in the movie, I found myself recalling these events of the past and trying to figure out what I was doing at the time of the attacks. I personally didn’t lose a loved one in the attacks so I don’t know how this movie could affect those who did, but I think Daldry has paid them a decent tribute. The screenplay was adapted by Eric Roth (who has a great trajectory in writing for films such as Forrest Gump, Munich, The Insider, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) from Jonathan Safran Foer`s novel of the same name. I don’t understand why so many critics hated this movie since it is much better than most films released in 2012, although I wouldn’t have nominated it for Best Picture either. Perhaps critics aren`t ready for a 9/11 film yet, or they thought it was too emotionally involving, but I don’t see how you can make one dealing with this subject that isn`t emotional. The other issue they might`ve had was that this film centers entirely on the performance of Thomas Horn, the Jeopardy winner during Kids Week who never starred in a film before this. I thought it was a good performance, although it did have its up and downs.

The main protagonist of the film is Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), who is not your ordinary kid. He is very smart, but not very social, and there is something about him that you know isn`t what we would consider normal behavior. He loves however playing expedition games with his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) who is always teaching him interesting facts and sending him on new quests. Thomas told Oskar that in New York there used to be a sixth burrow, but it has  disappeared although the clues of its whereabouts are hidden are around Central Park. All he has to do is continue searching. Thomas sends his son on all these expeditions because he wants him to interact with other people. Oskar`s mom is Linda (Sandra Bullock) who doesn’t seem to connect with him in the same way that his father does. She is however a loving and caring mother who has an excellent relationship with Thomas. On September 11^th their lives will change forever when Thomas is killed in one of the World Trade Center towers. We know Thomas dies from the very beginning because the story is non-linear as most of the scenes between Oskar and his father come from the boy`s memory. It`s been a year since the ¨terrible day¨ and Oskar is afraid of losing his connection with his father. He`s in desperate need of a new expedition and he finds one when he discovers a mysterious key inside a blue vase with the name Black on the envelope and a newspaper cutting with the words ¨not stop looking.¨ Oskar believes this is another quest from his father and is set to find what the key unlocks with the help of a speechless renter (played by Max von Sydow) from his grandma`s home. They embark on the journey together and try to discover the impossible.

I think the main idea of the film revolves around the fact of trying to make sense of these terrible things that have happened and learning how to deal with them. During one point of the movie, Horn`s character tells us that if the Sun were to explode we`d still see it and feel its heat even eight hours after it exploded. In the same way he still feels the presence of his father in his life even if it has been a year since his tragic death. He fears however that those eight hours are running out and wants to do something about it before it`s too late. How can he continue to feel the presence of his father in his life? He believes that with this new expedition he will continue to keep his memory, but what he doesn’t realize is that by embarking on this journey he will encounter many other people and hear their stories. The movie is very emotional and had me holding back my tears. I really found it powerful and enjoyed Horn`s performance, although I really got more involved with the movie when Max von Sydow`s character showed up. He deserved the nomination for best supporting actor because he really lifted this movie. The scene where Oskar shares his story to this stranger is just so powerful, I really enjoyed this film. I wouldn’t have nominated it for Best Picture, but I still enjoyed it even more than I did War Horse, The Descendants, and The Help so my major complain won`t be why this got nominated, but how Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive, Harry Potter, and Warrior didn’t.