Awakenings

16 August 2014

Awakenings 1990

• Director: Penny Marshall
• Based on the book by Oliver Sacks
• Cast: Robert de Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Ruth Nelson, Max von Sydow, Peter Stormare, Mary Alice, Alice Drummond, Dexter Gordon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert de Niro  – Stardust, Extras, Flawless, Jackie Brown, Cop Land, Marvin’s Room, Heat, Frankenstein, Stanley and Iris, Brazil, Falling in Love, Deer Hunter, New York New York, 1900, Taxi Driver, Hi Mom!
• Robin Williams – The Butler, Insomnia, Good Will Hunting, Hamlet, Hook, Fisher King, Dead Again, Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, The World According to Garp
• Julie Kavner – Rhoda
• John Heard  –  The Great Debaters, The Sopranos, O, Pollock, The Pelican Brief, Waterland, The Trip to Bountiful, After Hours
• Penelope Ann Miller – The Artists, Carlito’s Way
• Max von Sydow –  Utvandrarna, Invandrarna, Nybyggarna, Robin Hood, Shutter Island, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd, Voyage of the Damned, The Exorcist, Vargtimmen
• Peter Stormare – The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassas, The Brothers Grimm, Dancer in the Dark, The Big Lebowski, Fargo
• Mary Alice –  The Matrix Trilogy, Sunshine State, Malcolm X
• Alice Drummond - Ghostbusters
• Dexter Gordon – Around Midnight
• Anne Meara – Reality Bites, ALF,and many other TV shows
• Why? There is Parkinson’s disease in my family.
• Seen:  Once before. Now August 15, 2014, in memory of Robin Williams

He’s a doctor who has never treated actual patients. He’s done research with earthworms, mostly. He gets a job in a clinic for the chronically ill.  MS. Tourette’s. Parkinson’s.  In 1969.  He can’t even communicate with them.

But he’s the profoundly kind Robin Williams. He has crazy ideas. The other doctors think he’s as crazy as the patients (who aren’t crazy either).  He performs miracles only to see them quickly fall apart.

I’m not going to tell you the story.  If you haven’t seen this film, see it.

It’s powerful. It’s painful to watch.  It’s De Niro’s masterpiece and it’s a classical Williams role.

And it’s so very sad that Robin Williams could not bear to stay with us.

5 * of 5