K-PAX - L'homme qui vient de loin

I can't believe I had never heard of this movie before I came across it. I mean, how have I not heard about a movie starring masterclass actors like Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges? The dialogue between these two characters was written extremely well. It's not often you can have a movie where there's this much sitting and talking between two charachters and not get bored. With this movie it's the exact opposite, you actually get sucked into the conversations because of how interesting they are. Probably my favorite aspect of this movie is the mystery that surrounds this whole dilemma. It keeps your mind active the entire time wondering whether Prot is in fact an alien, or just a man who's disillusioned. At different times they'll give clues to have you leaning one way or the other, but they'll never let you completely make up your mind. Overall, the talented acting and the skillfully crafted writing are what make this movie so enthralling to watch. This is one of those movies that definitely deserves more noteriety than it's gotten.

It never ceases to amaze me how people's minds work.

First, you have a brilliant actor - Kevin Spacey - pulling off perhaps the best acting performance of his career as Prot. He claims to be an alien, gets locked in mental institute (understandably), and knows all sorts of things he shouldn't know about astrophysics.

So is he an alien or isn't he? The psychiatrist, played by Bridges, tries to find out, but the question is ultimately left for the viewer to decide. That is what I love about the movie: it doesn't preach. It doesn't demand us to believe in Prot. But at the same time, the movie does raise some questions. Do we really know how the universe works? What if - that is the question this movie wants to - and manages to - raise.

Then you have the ending, which isn't Hollywood-like, it only slightly touches the usual clichés about family and stuff, yet it is hart-warming and beautiful in its own silly way. I won't go deep into it so I won't spoil it for anyone, but please watch closely throughout the movie, and be prepared to use your brains a bit at the end.

The movie also plays a lot with audiovisual stuff. Beams of light are shown throughout the movie accompanied with beautiful piano music, perhaps because Prot allegedly arrived on our planet with a beam of light. This play with light makes the movie a subtly beautiful experience.

Altogether, this is an incredible work of art.

So you have all this - and what do the critics say? Most of them simply call it cr*p, and if they bother to explain why they think this way, they mumble something about this movie belonging neither to the scifi genre nor to the psychological drama genre (like the critic of the Guardian magazine). Well, get this to your heads: A GOOD STORY DOESN'T HAVE TO HAVE A CLEARLY DETERMINED GENRE.

I repeat, in case the professional critics didn't quite understand what I said.

A GOOD STORY DOESN'T HAVE TO HAVE A...

...Ahh, what's the use. The critics ain't gonna understand it, no matter how much I yell. Luckily, there are always people who are open to a good story. This review is dedicated to those people.

It never ceases to amaze me how movies like this get made.

No car crashes, no explosions, no pyrotechnical performances with people screaming at each other or themes/bravura megalomaniacal rants that self-consciously have "Please nominate me for an Oscar" whispering in the Academy's ear.

No, instead we're given a quiet, enormously fascinating, compassionate, well-intentioned film that sits back and realizes that above beautiful cinematography (Which it has in spades), before performances which nail you to your seat (Which it carries in abundance), the most important thing of all is story. And K-Pax despite all "common sense" in Hollywood, throws out every safe-bet to get a movie produced and gives us just that. Wonderful story. Marvelous story.

I don't need to talk about that. Everyone from the science fiction fans (Who appreciated the depth and seriousness of the subject matter) to the warm n' fuzzy brigade (Who "Get the message" of the movie) have done their part to praise the various facets of a film that refuses to be categorized and is simply a very, very good story.

And perhaps because of that, because no one knows precisely what it is, just that's it's wonderful--Not unlike Prot himself--the people who came to this picture and created it have made a film that doesn't slant itself one way or the other but does a wonderful job of juggling seemingly disparate elements--the science, the drama, the message,the psychological aspects--and approach the movie fresh-eyed and innocent. The cinematography is, at times, simply beautiful and inspiring. And Iain Softley obviously had an enormous respect for the material because when it came time to tell the stories and let it speak through the actors, he pulled back, kept it simple and left the audience to witness to incredible performances by Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey to leave viewers with the same feeling; the acting is beautiful and inspiring.

Kevin Spacey's "Prot" is a wonderfully understated character with the gentle, knowing presence of an outsider who understands. It is his very calmness and seeming omnipotence that make his emotional outbursts, when they come, that much more intense and painful for audiences. He brings to the story the delicate sense of ironic humanity that comes from someone who may not actually lay claim to being human.

Jeff Bridges provides the warm, tired, cynical but still hopeful center of the film that provides reality to Spacey's quiet otherworldliness. Jeff Bridges is the much needed Everyman of this movie who is like so many of us out there; intelligent, wanting to do the right thing, essentially a good person at heart who is perhaps little lost and a LOT tired of the shackling nature of every day life in a first world nation. He asks the hard questions, he clings to his perceived reality. But he also wants to help. And all he's looking for is an excuse, some kind of spark to ignite his hope.

I suspect that K-Pax is going to occupy the same space in most people's hearts as that of a good book. I can't see it raking in buzillions of dollars, despite the fact that far, FAR less worthy films do that every summer. Instead, it will carry along, fondly or even maniacally supported by lovers of the film by word of mouth, quietly finding a new audience and making change where ever it goes. It's a gentle, engaging, quiet film that punches viewers between the eyes not through editing, action or shouting, but through that most basic and often forgotten art of cinema, finding a strong story and just letting it tell itself.

K-PAX is exactly what a heart warming film should be. The story is about a mysterious mental patient Prot, played by Kevin Spacey, and his unbelieving psychiatrist Dr. Powel, played by Jeff Bridges. The two have a very friendly bond, and as their relationship grows Dr. Powel can't help but wonder whether or not there is more to his mysterious patient, who insists he is from another planet called K-PAX. This film is very funny, and Kevin Spacey pulls of well placed one liners as if it was his second nature. K-PAX is a smart film, and I wasn't expecting it to go where it did. In the end, I found myself thinking about the small things in life, and the wonder and magic of the every day life we so often take for granted. I left the theater with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, and for families and couples on a date, K-PAX is a splendid film, that will not disappoint. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in something more than the monotonous releases of glossy, action packed, gore fests.

I finally got to sit down and watch K-PAX and I can honestly say that I wished I had seen it before. I would rate this as on of my top 10 films, it is very well written, acted by Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and everyone in the movie. It's a refreshing change to see a well written and directed film which doesn't preach to you and makes you use your mind, you feel for all of the characters and at the end makes you think!

After seeing so much of the trash Hollywood has had to offer over the last 7-8 years, I would recommend switching off all distractions, sitting down with an open mind and glass of wine!