Awakenings

Unrated

12/12/19902h 0m

Premiere Release (US)

~ There is no such thing as a simple miracle. ~

Overview:

Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.

Director:

Penny Marshall

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$31,000,000.00

Revenue:

$52,096,475.00

Key words:

coma
experiment
based on novel or book
hope
miracle
based on true story
hospital
illness
woman director
comatose
medical drama

Cast

Robert De Niro

~ as ~

Leonard Lowe

Robin Williams

~ as ~

Malcolm Sayer

John Heard

~ as ~

Dr. Kaufman

Julie Kavner

~ as ~

Eleanor Costello

Penelope Ann Miller

~ as ~

Paula

Ruth Nelson

~ as ~

Mrs. Lowe

Max von Sydow

~ as ~

Peter Ingham

Anne Meara

~ as ~

Miriam

Dexter Gordon

~ as ~

Rolando

George Martin

~ as ~

Frank

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 5 year(s) ago
5
A ‘hospital film’ with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, based on a true story

A shy doctor (Robin Williams) gets a job at a Bronx hospital in 1969 where he attends to several patients in a catatonic state after the encephalitis epidemic of 1917–28. He experiments with a new drug that offers the hope of reviving them. Robert De Niro plays his key patient, Julie Kavner his nurse and John Heard his supervisor. Penelope Ann Miller is also on hand as a potential romantic interest.

"Awakenings” (1990) is based on Oliver Sacks' 1973 memoir of the same name, which chronicled the true event that occurred the summer of ’69. Being a hospital movie about ailing people trying to recover puts it in the same camp as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” (1975) and “Instinct” (1999), but it’s not as compelling.

There’s just not enough human interest beyond the viewer being sympathetic toward the patients’ plight and wanting them to get well. It’s also marred by some blatant predictableness, like Leonard’s name on the bench and the “cup of coffee” aspect. Still, this is a tale that needed to be told and I’m not sorry I watched it. It’s just overrated.

The film runs 2 hours and was shot in Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, New York City.

GRADE: C+