Review: K-PAX

The idea that lunatics in asylums are the only really sane people in this crazy world has become a staple of American movies, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to Girl Interrupted to K-PAX, a surreal, at-times-charming and curiously detached psychological drama starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges about the complex relationship between a self-proclaimed alien and an alienated psychiatrist. Spoilage warning: plot is discussed, but not ending. The film is more timely than it could possibly have intended to be.

There is at least one new twist at least in this tattered story line. Spacey's Prot, a visitor from the planet K-PAX, is a healing alien. Picked up by the police after a mugging in New York City, Spacey is - of course - not believed when he says he's from outer space and is tossed into a psychiatric hospital for a month. He tells the skeptical Bridges (Dr. Mark Powers) that he's from another planet. He has no mission, he's just traveling, curious about the odd and destructive behavior of humans and the high quality of their produce.

Powers doesn't believe him at first -- all of his fellow patients instantly believe naturally -- but then becomes curious as Prot proves impervious to even the most powerful anti-psychotic drugs, astonishes astrophysicists with his knowledge of far away solar systems, and begins healing deranged patients who've been confined for years.

Powers brings Prot to his house, with curious results that set the shrink off on a not very believable mission to New Mexico that he hopes will tell him who Prot really is. Along the way, the doc has the battle the usual assortment of impatient, cost-conscious and cynical bureaucrats.

Prot isn't worried about what any human thinks. He blithely insists to his captors that he's soon to head home on a beam of light to a planet where family is both unknown and unnecessary, and that he will take one person -- probably a fellow patient -- with him. This has particular resonance for Dr. Powers, who seems not to notice his gorgeous wife or adorable kids. But Prot's utter, unrelenting cool leaves us detached from the movie as well as him.

Spacey is so ironic and low-key it seems he might well be from another solar system. He has played this kind of ironic character a bit too often, and Prot doesn't come close to the blow-out portrayal of Lester Burnham's suburban bust-up in American Beauty.But tension does build as we get curious about whether he is really an alien or not, and whether or not he will go back to K-PAX. (Also whether Powers will notice his wife and what's-really-important-in-life.)

The ending turns out to be the most inventive part of the movie. It's actually quite ingenuous, leaving people wondering about what they really saw and ought to conclude from it. This is one of those very rare endings that a dozen people can see and draw completely different conclusions from.

And K-PAX is a particularly relevant movie this week, since one of its themes is that we ought to appreciate life while we can. It's pleasant and soothing.

Comments

Ending Discussion - SPOILER

[rosewood]

I saw this movie last night and absolutely loved it. The imagery was so visually intoxicating that I couldn't peal my eyes from the screne. My take on the ending: Prot used Robert's body to actually walk and talk, etc. IE. the form of the soap bubble. Since Prot could sense UV light and had way too much information about the solar system, he could not have just been a super-savant.

In the end when all the mental patients said that the person on gurney was not Prot was a bit confusing, and the fact that Bess did disapear is interesting.

However, Robert could have just gone crazy. Robert as a child could have spent countless hours staring into a clear new mexico sky observing and calculating etc. The eye test could have been a mistake or after the near drowning, his eyes could have become very sensative to light, although I doubt sensative to UV.

All in all - very interesting. I won't lie tho, I just love Kevin Spacy.

Re:Ending Discussion - SPOILER

[IpalindromeI]

In the end when all the mental patients said that the person on gurney was not Prot was a bit confusing, and the fact that Bess did disapear is interesting.

This was meant to give another indication that Prot was just borrowing Robert's body for his visit. The patients, who could look past the mere appearance and "psychosis," could tell that it wasn't Prot, even though the physical body was the same. They understood Prot on a slightly different level than the unbelievers (eg, the psychiatrists), and the movie gives that indication with the discussion about the sunglasses. When Prot leaves to go "up north," the patients know he's coming back because he took his sunglasses, which he wouldn't need on K-PAX. This is intended to be metaphor for the body he's using. He won't need that back on K-PAX, either. And even though it's left behind when he leaves in the end of the movie, the patients can tell it isn't him.

As to Bess's disappearance, it reinforces Prot's existance. The symptoms of Bess's illness (never talking, and hardly ever moving) do not lend much strength to the theory that she simply broke out of the hospital. Especially due to the statement made earlier by the high-up chairwoman figure when Prot took his short leave, that "people don't break out of this hospital," leading you to believe it has nice beefy security.

Re:Ending Discussion - SPOILER

[gregor_b_dramkin]

The movie was not consistent enough with *any* of the possible plot lines, much less all of them.

If Prot was an alien intelligence inhabiting Robert's body -- How did he have UV vision?

If he was just crazy -- explain the UV vision or talking to the dog.

If Prot was a completely separate body -- why did he react so emotionally under hypnosis? Why did he freak out about the sprinkler?

Don't get me wrong -- I really enjoyed the movie. I just wish it had been done with a little more thought to the different scenarios to make them all plausible -- or any of them plausible for that matter.

I think it could have had a truly great ending like Sixth Sense, where everything up to the end takes on a different meaning. I've seen it 4-5 times. I am amazed at how perfectly equivocal every scene is, while maintaining the appearance of a single plot line.

Great movie!

[Chrios]

I thought K-PAX was a great movie. Compared to the crap I saw this summer, I left thoroughly impressed. What this review leaves out is how funny this movie is. I was laughing all throughout the movie and so was the audience.

One comment I had to make was on this quote:

"Spacey's Prot, a visitor from the planet K-PAX, is a healing alien".

Well not really, he can just see what human treatment leaves out. He never intended to end up in some psychiatric board to help the patients out. He doesn't have some special designation that he is a healing alien. He can just see things differently.

The rest of the article is pretty accurate. K-PAX has been getting different reviews, many good, some bad. But go see it your self. I highly suggest seeing the movie, you won't regret it.

What happens after the credits?

[stripes]

During the credits the theater turned up the lights, so I couldn't read them very well. Nor could I really tell what happened after the credits ended and they showed about 15 more seconds of someone (Bridges?) doing something.

What was it?

(The theater claimed it was a MD state law that they had to turn on the lights when people start leaving. I don't know how long they have been doing it, I hadn't seen new movies in MD for a while...and I may decide never to again!)

New Review

[Accipiter]

I hate to beat up a Katz review...(well, no, not really.), but I have to wonder what qualifies him as a movie reviewer? Bad grammar, inaccuracies, and the like seem to say "Hey, don't take this seriously."

Spacey's Prot, a visitor from the planet K-PAX, is a healing alien.

No, he's not. He even states that every being in the universe is capable of healing itself.

Picked up by the police after a mugging in New York City

...a mugging in which he did not participate...

He tells the skeptical Bridges (Dr. Mark Powers)

This is probably over-analyzing semantics, but prot doesn't tell Bridges jack shit. The actor's real name belongs in the parenthesis, while the character's name - in this case, Dr. Mark Powell is the person with whom prot is conversing.

...and begins healing deranged patients who've been confined for years.

Again, he doesn't heal them. He merely shows them the path to heal themselves.

Powers brings Prot to his house, with curious results that set the shrink off on a not very believable mission to New Mexico that he hopes will tell him who Prot really is.

I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to mean.

This is one of those very rare endings that a dozen people can see and draw completely different conclusions from.

That just proves that the Katz writing style is sophomoric at best.

Anyway, K-PAX is a great movie. prot (Kevin Spacey) is taken to a Psychiatric institute after having told New York police officers how bright the light is on Earth. Early in the movie, prot is introduced to Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) who takes an immediate interest in his case. Eventually, prot has Powell, the staff of the institute, fellow patients, and top astrologers totally puzzled as to his true identity.

K-PAX is said to lie about a thousand light-years from Earth (within the constellation Lira), and is where prot calls home. This story is obviously met with a certain amount of skepticism from the people of Earth, and the point of the movie is to work through that skepticism. By the end, the audience will draw vastly different conclusions regarding the story's ending, and it is these conclusions that give insight into each person's individuality.

(Oh, and "prot" isn't supposed to be capitalized. That's how it works on K-PAX. :)

Does everyone in the universe schedule their trave

[Nasser]

It makes sense to me why he would have to leave x number of years to the day and minute. Perhaps his beam of light has to wait until the Earth is realigned with whatever light-path he took? So it must take 5 revolutions around the sun for his lightpath to reconnect to K-Pax. Just a thought :-)

>>Does everyone in the universe schedule their travel based on earth time?

Re:Ending

[CleverNickName]

...why is he leaving exactly five earth years after he arrived? Does everyone in the universe schedule their travel based on earth time?

Things like this happen in SF all the time. We would like to stay away from an "Earth-centric" view of things, but the people paying to see this movie are from Earth, and it's easier for them to grasp an Earth year, than it is to grasp a Jovian year, or a k-paxian year. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter to the vast majority of the audience, and, as a filmmaker, you'd rather have your audience ponder your film's (hopefully) deeper meanings, not how long a year was.

Re:You might want to do the same

[Loligo]

>Hey, if we are gonna speak english with the
>Poontangians, they are going to have something
>other than miles and years to deal with. There
>will be conversion tables, presumably, but if we
>have any intimacy with these people, they won't
>say "your miles" and "your light-years."
>The "your" is redundant.

Not necessarily.

While they may not measure distance in miles, or time in years, "light year" DOES mean "the distance light travels in the time it takes the Earth to make one orbit of the Sun".

Hence, their home planet WILL have an equivalent measurement, it may just not be one measured in a "year" or "miles".

But there WILL be a unit equal to the distance light travels in the time it takes THEIR planet (Poontangia? When's the next flight?) to make one orbit of THEIR sun.

Hence, "your light-year" is correct. "Their light-year" will be more or less (well, there's a CHANCE it's not, but let's be realistic...), but the unit DOES exist.

-l
...shaking his head because he said "let's be realistic" in this discussion...

obviously prot was not human.

[Another AC]

he could see ultra violet, remember? That's pretty unambiguous evidence that he's from K-PAX (or at least SOME other planet). There was the stuff about him being immune to the drugs and disappearing for 3 days to go up north too. But just the ultra violet part should be enough to take any ambiguity out of the movie, right?