I have the distinct feeling I’m misremembering the 10-year thing.
Regarding the “What was he doing all those years?” thing… I had the feeling that he’d played out the same drama before. The way he left clues like the Salvation Army pencil made me think that he, Robert Porter, wanted to be found out and had been found out and passed on to other cities before.
I left with the overall impression that it was a form of psychosis and he wasn’t from K-PAX, but it’s an unsatisyfing conclusion given the lack of explanation for his disappearance “up north” and Bess’ disappearance at the end of the movie. I don’t think it was very skillfully done at all.
Did anyone else notice what felt to me like clumsy directing? For example, when Prot and the psych first meet, their reflections are intermingled in the glass. It was saying “HELLO! WE’RE CONNECTED!” - and the talk of the blurring of lines between doctor and patient and then later when he was being shown around Robert Porter’s house and was acting as though he was remembering personal details rather than imagining someone else’s… it just seemed clumsy and while it felt like the director wanted me to see something, I wasn’t quite sure what it was he was wanting to put accross. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Fran
I don’t think he took Bess back with him. I think he rode her home, because he needed a physical vehicle of some sort. That would explain why he could only take one person with him.
And maybe he put Bess in Porter’s body. This would explain why he catatonic, she doesn’t know how to control another’s muscles and doesn’t speak anyway. (This last paragraph is not serious, but the first is offered for consideration.)
Actually, it was Jeff Bridges who was working for KPAX, but it’s a TV station; his caustic on-air comments caused someone to kill Porter’s wife, which created Prot. Prot travels by light beam in order to recover the Holy Grail. (Wasn’t there also a scene where they get naked in Central Park or something?)
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I read the first book K-PAX recently. I’m not planning on seeing the movie, either, if it’s as awful as the book was. Has anyone else read the book?
I’m reconsidering seeing the movie, though, since so many people here seemed to like it, and the awkward writing of the book would be mostly lost in movie format. Woman’s fluttering eyelashes compared to a rare butterfly… argh… the horror, the horror…
panamajack - is that from the book? I don’t remember any of that from the movie.
Mearlchan - what didn’t you like about the book? I’m planning to read the trilogy when I get time. Most people on Amazon gave it glowing reviews - maybe you could add your voice to the “againsts”.
<hijack> IHNSTM(I have not seen this movie) but I’ve been wondering something since seeing the trailer…is he supposed to be an alien, or a Bono impersonator? Is U2 on the soundtrack?
</hijack>
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by DarrenS *
**panamajack - is that from the book? I don’t remember any of that from the movie. **
lol I believe he’s making a reference to the movie the Fisher King. I might remember wrong, though.
Well, I was in the hospital at the time, so maybe I wasn’t in the most receptive mode for literary masterpieces. Mostly I remember being very irritated by the writing style, especially the descriptions. I also remember wanting to smack Prot’s arrogant smarmy butt around (but maybe that’s more pit-appropriate?) “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were all friendly and stuff? Aren’t I deep? Oh, you silly humans.”
Also, at the end of the book, I remember thinking the inconclusiveness of Prot’s nature had to be because of one of two things: A, the writer hadn’t decided either, a sign of sloppy writing in my opinion, or B, the writer planned sequels to make more money from the idea.
Again, though, I read this in the hospital, and it was a loan from someone, so I can’t reread it unless I buy it myself. Maybe it reads better when you’re feeling better.
Oh, yes, and I finished the first book in a matter of hours. I can be a fast reader sometimes, but in my opinion, it was very light reading pretending to be something else.
I think it’s a Calvin and Hobbes thing. It’s not one thing or the other.
First, to those referencing the book, while this can shed some light, I believe a movie tells it’s own story.
Some observations and questions:
- Why didn’t they do some sort of scientific testing on his ability to see UV light? This should have drawn some big time attention.
- Why did “prot” feel the need the correctly spell the name of his planet? As if he were giving a clue or something.
- I think the ‘taking only one person with him’ thing had nothing to do with physics and everything to do with, if everybody vanished it would throw too much weight on the ‘prot-as-alien’ therory ruining the ambiguity.
- If someone had really walked into an observatory and explained the movements of planets of another star, would the scientist really just shake their heads, say ‘wow’ then drop the matter? By the way, being a savant wouldn’t give you access to this kind of information.
- Why was he content to spend his time on earth being ordered around and locked up?
- As far as prot inhabitating Bob’s dead body, remember he (Robert) spent the time after trying to drown himself at the YMCA.
My take? Just another delusional (with neferious screenwriters on his side!).
Like all science fiction, appreciating this movie/story requires a willing suspension of dis-belief. In other words, you have to be able to look at what is presented and “go with it”.
For me, as far as the alien/light beam/dog talking stuff went, OK fine, so what. The ambiguous ending “is he or isn’t he” stuff came off as lame, didn’t tickle me.
Where I really couldn’t get into was:
- Why would the cops at the beginning give him the time of day? “Move along fella.” end of movie.
- So the cops decide he is a kook and needs to be handled. Ship him off to the county nut house and … end of movie.
- Why does the crack team at Jeff Bridges’ hospital spend so much time and money and resources on this guy? There is one line in the movie “I hope they have medicade on K-PAX” but that’s the last we hear on the subject. Who’s paying for all this high end treatment? To me, that was the real science fiction of the movie and I for one just couldn’t get past it.
Otherwise, I felt the movie was too long.
They might have figured he was high on drugs and wanted to check him out.
Hey rickj, this flick is out on dvd now with special stuff including an alternate final scene. Maybe you can watch it to get a better answer?
I haven’t seen the movie, but in the book, this was a pretty crucial point for the side of “prot doesn’t exist.” If he is just a defense mechanism, than perhaps Robert Porter doesn’t want to have sex anymore…or is repulsed by the very idea. So, he creates a persona from a planet where sex isn’t even an option. If the Porter is simply creating prot to deal with the tragedies in his life than it doesn’t have to be rational, it just has to work for him.
panamajack nailed it. Bridges played the exact same part in The Fisher King.
Obviously, the filmmakers wanted to leave the ending ambiguous to satisfy both fans of the “catharsis via the views of psychotics” (which is definitely a plot device that’s been over-used) and “gee, he really was an alien” film genres (which, come to think of it, is another plot device that’s getting pretty hoary).
I just rented this pupster last night and here’s my one-word review:
yawn
The writing never gave you a sense of just why Dr. Powell is so interested in this one patient. (Doesn’t he have other patients? Just because they don’t claim to be aliens, their psychoses are less interesting? Shitty doctor!). What’s with the “he can see UV light and accurately plot the orbit of a planet around a binary star system” business not being followed up or ever mentioned again?
The acting - by two leads who are much better than they appear in this stinker - was equal parts “ho” and “hum”. Mustv’e been a “paycheck” job for both of them.
spacey related hijack…
I had to get this off my chest, but not so strongly that i feel like starting a thread about it.
I used to swear by spacey, but outside of American Beauty from a couple o years ago, i’ve been nothing but dissapointed with him over and over again lately. Negotiator? Shipping News? Pay it Forward? K-Pax? that garden of Good and Evil Crap?
I mean AB and Usual Suspects and Se7en, and swimming with sharks were great, but I think, particularly after Shipping News, I am now officially over my “I’ll go see it just becasue Spacey is in it” phase. Its not even that his acting is BAd per se, he just chooses the wrong roles in movies that put me to sleep.
its such a shame really. Usual Suspects was one for the ages…
CJ
You must have hated ‘The Other Sister’, which portrays retarded people as naive and funny-talking but otherwise normal people.