Awakenings (1990)

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

"What we do know is that, as the chemical window closed, another awakening took place; that the human spirit is more powerful than any drug - and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. THESE are the things that matter. This is what we'd forgotten - the simplest things" Finally, I had the chance to watch Awakenings. My brother recommended it for me years ago, and since he is not into movies, so once he is captured by a movie, I know it's a good one. Apart from my brother, I found Awakenings is very beautiful and heartwarming. It has also some light scenes. They are not many, but sufficient for a movie that deals with catatonic conditions. Everyone here is perfect playing his role, and I mean everyone, from the two leads to the secondary roles. For Robert De Niro, he is excellent through the entire movie especially through the scenes where he acts as if he can't control his muscles. I think these scenes are difficult enough for any actor to make, but he brilliantly executed them. But frankly, I loved Robin Williams as Dr. Sayer or Dr. Oliver Sacks, the true neurologist whose book is that the movie is based on more. Here he is nerd, earnest, hopeful.Finally, despite being nominated for three Oscar awards, I think it's underrated, at least among the audience. And don't forget to bring some tissues.

This is based on true life event and has great actors in the lead. I don't know how it is I had not seen it before, but while I was looking for something else on Netflix I stumbled across this. Some people may think De Niro lost his touch once he got into comedy, but you cannot for one second doubt or critisize him in the Dramas he played in.This one in particular, was not easy to play. And I can only imagine a method actor like him, what he must have gone through. Well what he made himself endure. While there always are things that are going to be altered from reality for dramatic purposes, what happened in 1969, what the doctors and patients went through is tough to put into words. It is something that is touching, sad and uplifting at various points of the movie. At the end, you get a bit of extra information on the real people. But even without that added text, the movie was clear. The power of the mind is big ... and the power of movies tries to match it here ...

This is an A+ film. I had extremely high expectations for it because of the two main men: Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. They definitely did not disappoint! I am often a fan of movies based on either a book or on a true story; I was in for a treat because this one is both! The film is medically accurate and intriguing without overdramatizing the real-life events. Robin Williams greatly portrays the shy, (clearly) genius, Dr. Sayer. And Robert De Niro does an amazing job of playing a catatonic patient, which I imagine would be amazingly difficult.I enjoyed how the film shows the audience how the medical field operated during the time period. Currently, in most hospitals, most doctors are unceasingly looking for the answers - the whys and the hows. They will not stop until they know why a patient reacts this way or how a patient ended up this way. In 1969... it was completely different and I appreciate that the film showed how different the world was without making it seem like doctors were barbaric and soulless creatures.

"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. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/