Plot
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
Release Year: 2001
Rating: 7.2/10 (72,783 voted)
Critic's Score: 49/100
Director:
Iain Softley
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack
Storyline Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
Writers: Gene Brewer, Charles Leavitt
Cast: Kevin Spacey
-
Prot
Jeff Bridges
-
Dr. Mark Powell
Mary McCormack
-
Rachel Powell
Alfre Woodard
-
Dr. Claudia Villars
David Patrick Kelly
-
Howie
Saul Williams
-
Ernie
Peter Gerety
-
Sal
Celia Weston
-
Doris Archer
Ajay Naidu
-
Dr. Chakraborty
Tracy Vilar
-
Maria
Melanee Murray
-
Bess
John Toles-Bey
-
Russell
Kimberly Scott
-
Joyce Trexler
Conchata Ferrell
-
Betty McAllister
Vincent Laresca
-
Navarro
Taglines:
Is he crazy?...or is he light years ahead of us?
Opening Weekend: $17,215,275
(USA)
(28 October 2001)
(2541 Screens)
Gross: $50,315,140
(USA)
(30 December 2001)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Throughout the movie sparkles of light can be seen in the background of almost all scenes, more accurately in Dr. Powell's office when he talks with Prot.
Goofs:
Errors in geography:
The story takes place in New York, however, visible through the office window in one scene is the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Quotes: Ernie:
Dying is something you have no control over. Why waste your life being afraid of it?
User Review
A Charming, Hidden Gem Of A Movie
Rating:
It never ceases to amaze me how movies like this get made.
No car crashes, no explosions, no pyrotechnical performances with people
screaming at each other or themes/bravura megalomaniacal rants that
self-consciously have "Please nominate me for an Oscar" whispering in the
Academy's ear.
No, instead we're given a quiet, enormously fascinating, compassionate,
well-intentioned film that sits back and realizes that above beautiful
cinematography (Which it has in spades), before performances which nail
you
to your seat (Which it carries in abundance), the most important thing of
all is story. And K-Pax despite all "common sense" in Hollywood, throws
out
every safe-bet to get a movie produced and gives us just that. Wonderful
story. Marvelous story.
I don't need to talk about that. Everyone from the science fiction fans
(Who appreciated the depth and seriousness of the subject matter) to the
warm n' fuzzy brigade (Who "Get the message" of the movie) have done their
part to praise the various facets of a film that refuses to be categorized
and is simply a very, very good story.
And perhaps because of that, because no one knows precisely what it is,
just
that's it's wonderful--Not unlike Prot himself--the people who came to
this
picture and created it have made a film that doesn't slant itself one way
or
the other but does a wonderful job of juggling seemingly disparate
elements--the science, the drama, the message,the psychological
aspects--and
approach the movie fresh-eyed and innocent. The cinematography is, at
times, simply beautiful and inspiring. And Iain Softley obviously had an
enormous respect for the material because when it came time to tell the
stories and let it speak through the actors, he pulled back, kept it
simple
and left the audience to witness to incredible performances by Jeff
Bridges
and Kevin Spacey to leave viewers with the same feeling; the acting is
beautiful and inspiring.
Kevin Spacey's "Prot" is a wonderfully understated character with the
gentle, knowing presence of an outsider who understands. It is his very
calmness and seeming omnipotence that make his emotional outbursts, when
they come, that much more intense and painful for audiences. He brings to
the story the delicate sense of ironic humanity that comes from someone
who
may not actually lay claim to being human.
Jeff Bridges provides the warm, tired, cynical but still hopeful center of
the film that provides reality to Spacey's quiet otherworldliness. Jeff
Bridges is the much needed Everyman of this movie who is like so many of
us
out there; intelligent, wanting to do the right thing, essentially a good
person at heart who is perhaps little lost and a LOT tired of the
shackling
nature of every day life in a first world nation. He asks the hard
questions, he clings to his perceived reality. But he also wants to help.
And all he's looking for is an excuse, some kind of spark to ignite his
hope.
I suspect that K-Pax is going to occupy the same space in most people's
hearts as that of a good book. I can't see it raking in buzillions of
dollars, despite the fact that far, FAR less worthy films do that every
summer. Instead, it will carry along, fondly or even maniacally supported
by lovers of the film by word of mouth, quietly finding a new audience and
making change where ever it goes. It's a gentle, engaging, quiet film
that
punches viewers between the eyes not through editing, action or shouting,
but through that most basic and often forgotten art of cinema, finding a
strong story and just letting it tell itself.
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