Directed by:
Iain SoftleyScreenplay:
Charles LeavittCinematography:
John MathiesonComposer:
Edward ShearmurCast:
Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack, Alfre Woodard, David Patrick Kelly, Saul Williams, Peter Gerety, Celia Weston, Ajay Naidu, Tracy Vilar (more)VOD (1)
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Prot (Kevin Spacey) 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. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (9)
Two incredibly different halves. While the first one is captivating, thoughtful, full of valuable ideas, the second one is scattered, with a poor script deviation and too much pseudo-psychology – it looks like it switched to a completely different film. Pleasant philosophy is alternated with hard-to-believe psychology, which ultimately spoils the whole impression and gives the feeling that they didn't know what they were doing.
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A film that is magnificent, slow-paced, and soothing in the purest way, which on further viewings has gained a stamp of genius in my eyes. Kevin Spacey demonstrates that even the most challenging role is not insurmountable for him, and Jeff Bridges brings the perfect qualities to his humane role. Criticisms towards the screenplay are irrelevant; if prot only wandered around a mental institution, treated patients, and awed everyone with his knowledge of the universe, it would quickly lose the magic that makes these scenes unforgettable. It is precisely the dramatic storyline, unfolding in the second half, that gives K-PAX the aura of a meticulously crafted film until the very last scene.
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Acting exhibitions and atmospheric direction in a story that unfortunately can't handle itself. I applaud any film that makes the passive viewer think and plays with their deepening expectations, hence the 4*, but I guess I'd have to be on a completely different mental or intellectual state to get a satisfactory interpretation of the twist and the overall meaning here – and I'm really not sure if it's a more evolved or more primitive state... That said, Kevin Spacey is a phenomenal actor. 80%
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I don't even know which interpretation is better. If the one where prot is an alien from an advanced civilization whose hobby is to ride through space to show off for less evolved beings. Or the one where he's actually a human who overly tugs at the socks of his surroundings and, through knowing everyone by name, announces the arrival of a bluebird in his backyard and creates a plausible simulation of an alien star system in a planetarium to force a skeptical psychiatrist to pay more attention to his family. In any case, the biggest sci-fi budget is 68m for a film set in three rooms and one garden, the point of which is the importance of bourgeois family togetherness in the face of higher knowledge. But maybe that's subversive enough that the film itself is implying how aware it is of the fact that it's constantly communicating in condescending gestures and simple mottos with which 15-year-old philosophers, mothers on their fourth maternity leave (definitely not a vacation), and people who feel like they've figured it all out after a powerful experience with hallucinogens can best identify. Either way, nothing describes my impressions of the whole spectacle like this short story: ___ "There was an old man. He was a kind of sage. He got up in the morning and, having nothing to do, went out for a walk and glossed wittily on the world around him. With understanding irony he smiled at people's foibles, and with gentle humor he pointed out minor wrongs and iniquities. He talked to everyone – from diggers to shop assistants, workers to clerks and managers; they all knew him well. ...No wonder people one day conspired to beat the old man to death."
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A beautiful film, unforgettable. I didn’t breathe out from beginning to end, and although I was always wondering whether Prot really came to us from somewhere or not, in the end I didn't really care. That's not what it was about at all. The acting, Shearmur's amazing music and the camera full of light. Sensational.
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Gallery (34)
Photo © 2001 Universal Pictures
![K-PAX - Making of](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/160/188/160188644_8c4666.jpg)
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