Awakenings

1990 Drama

Based on a true story as related by neurologist Oliver Sacks, Awakenings stars Robin Williams as the Sacks counterpart, here named Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Something of a klutz and naif, Dr. Sayer takes a job at a Bronx psychiatric hospital in 1969. Here he's put in charge of several seemingly catatonic patients who, under Sayer's painstaking guidance, begin responding to certain stimulati. Apprised of the efficacy of a new drug called L-DOPA in treating degenerative-disease victims, Sayer is given permission to test the drug on one of his patients: Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), who has not communicated with anyone since lapsing into catatonia as a child. Gradually, Lowe comes out of his shell, encouraging Sayers to administer L-DOPA to the other patients under his care. Julie Kavner and John Heard also star.

Director: Penny Marshall

Starring: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard

 27 Reviews  10 Awards

Reviews

  • 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.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    29 November 2012

  • Marshall masterfully plays our strings without becoming either melodramatic or maudlin. Like Brian De Palma's "Bonfire of the Vanities," hers is an adaptation that ends with a wake-up call, only here it's done successfully and in context.

    Rita Kempley - The Washington Post

    29 November 2012

  • The director Penny Marshall has gone straight to the heart of this complex story and made a powerfully poignant and illuminating film. She doesn't hesitate to push for the grand sentimental moment, but balances the teary stuff with restraint and humor. To be sure, Awakenings seems calculated to induce weeping -- and it does, without making the weeper feel cheap.

    Julie Salamon - The Wall Street Journal

    29 November 2012

  • Awakenings is a troubling film, but it's also a courageous one that dares to tackle a difficult subject with sensitivity and honesty.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Director Penny Marshall's choreography encompasses emotional as well as physical ebbs and flows. Awakenings lives up to its title.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Best Actor in a Leading Role

    Academy Awards (1991)

     

  • Best Foreign Film

    Awards of the Japanese Academy (1992)

     

  • Best Actor

    Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1991)

     

  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

    Golden Globes (1991)

     

  • Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television

    Grammy Awards (1992)

     

Lists

No lists

©2013 Movie Monitor