Film Review - K-PAX (From Western Telegraph)

Film Review - K-PAX

K-PAX Directed by: Iain Softley Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack. (Cert. 12, Dur. 120 mins)

As I go through life watching film after film I am more and more convinced that if cinema has any purpose at all it is twofold. The first is the straight storytelling need that we must have had built in to our genes as cave men sitting round the campfire. In modern times those needs still exist.

I dont understand the reason, but we seem tohave some biological need to have our emotions tweaked, to laugh and cry, in a communal environment.

The second reason is neglected by so many modern films. Films should make us think. They should raise issues that effect the way we live our lives. There should be scruples that cause us to question our own ethics and moral ideas. I love films that cause a debate in the pub after the cinema, or over cocoa before bed time or the next morning, or even a week later, a year! (and no, I dont know anyone who drinks cocoa either, but you get the picture.)

I dont expect it from all movies. A re-made fairy tale may not bring on deep and meaningfulls about whether Cinderella should forgive the ugly sisters, but on the whole Im disappointed if a film isnt both emotionally entertaining, engaging and thought provoking. And if it has a twist of soundtrack or great clothes or beautiful landscapes, thats all good too.

So, K-Pax, is one of the best films that I have seen and will see in 2002. It wont be a blockbuster and it has one of the worst titles I ever heard. Im big on titles and so I wasnt expecting much from K-PAX. Then within minutes my brain had picked up the undetectable signals that tell you that watching it is paying off.

Kevin Spacey, Oscar winner, and for my money an acting genius, is picked up by the cops in New York and branded a nutcase because he insists that hes called Prot, and is just visiting earth from the planet K-Pax. He ends up in a mental hospital as the patient of Jeff Bridges.

Bridges is perfect as a work-a-day psychiatrist who suddenly comes across Prot, who is rather more convincing in his deluded state than his other patients. So convincing is Prot in fact, in his conviction that he is just visiting earth from another planet, that Bridges does wonder if he is the real thing.

Further more, Prots abilities, and promise that when he goes home he will take one human with him, has a dramatic effect on all those around him. The resulting half-hour of the film is either a bit too ambiguous, leaving big holes in the plot or is left open for discussion. I prefer the latter argument.

I really enjoyed every moment of this film. Its wonderfully shot and perfectly acted in a small story about big possibilities. The possibility that someone may or may not travel across space, faster than a beam of light, which I think Prot said was possible for himself and other K-Paxians. If only we believed Prot... if only we opened our minds and listened to the scientifically plausible instead of scoffing at the almost impossible. You see, therell be hours of intelligent discussion after this one!

If this talk of talk is putting you off let me just say that K-Pax is brilliantly written, shot and acted and full of tension and light hearted Is he mad or isnt he? banter.

Vaughan Sivell