Awakenings

    Awakenings
    1990

    Synopsis

    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.

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    Cast

    • Robert De NiroLeonard Lowe
    • Robin WilliamsMalcolm Sayer
    • John HeardDr. Kaufman
    • Julie KavnerEleanor Costello
    • Penelope Ann MillerPaula
    • Ruth NelsonMrs. Lowe
    • Max von SydowPeter Ingham
    • Anne MearaMiriam
    • Dexter GordonRolando
    • George MartinFrank

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      After seeing Awakenings, I read it, to know more about what happened in that Bronx hospital. What both the movie and the book convey is the immense courage of the patients and the profound experience of their doctors, as in a small way they reexperienced what it means to be born, to open your eyes and discover to your astonishment that "you" are alive.
    • 100

      Seattle Post-Intelligencer

      Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall, is a curiously engaging, genuinely haunting movie that rises above some dubious handicapped jokes and strange casting decisions to be truly special. [11 Jan 1991, p.5]
    • 88

      Boston Globe

      Director Penny Marshall's choreography encompasses emotional as well as physical ebbs and flows. Awakenings lives up to its title. [11 Jan 1991]
    • 88

      San Francisco Chronicle

      Awakenings is a troubling film, but it's also a courageous one that dares to tackle a difficult subject with sensitivity and honesty. [20 Dec 1990, p.E1]
    • 88

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      Marshall elicits performances from Williams and De Niro that are exceptional. Awakenings is a small, simple movie about a large, complex issue, the waste of human opportunity. [19 Dec 1990, p.C1]
    • 80

      Los Angeles Times

      As well-meaning and "sensitive" as Awakenings is, it never rises much above the level of a grade-A tear-jerker. It achieves most of its effects by tenderizing raw material into something marshmallowy. [20 Dec 1990, p.1]
    • 75

      Christian Science Monitor

      Awakenings falls into the of traps of sentimentality and audience-pandering. It makes you laugh, cry, and marvel. But it also simplifies and falsifies all kinds of issues, from the intricacies of medical care to the realities of inner-city hospital funding. [7 Feb 1991]
    • 70

      Washington Post

      Knee-jerk tears aside, there's nothing tremendously special. It's very watchable, but it doesn't stand out. Which is not to say the film is badly done; it's just decently done.

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