K-PAX Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Change the way you look at the world.
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
| Mary McCormack | |
| Kevin Spacey | |
| Jeff Bridges | |
| Alfre Woodard | |
| David Patrick Kelly | |
| Saul Williams | |
| Peter Gerety | |
| Celia Weston |
| Iain Softley |
7.10 out of 10 (31608 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Book to screenplay fairly faithful;interesting remake of MAN FACING SOUTHEAST
posted on 20 Aug 2009"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking newlandscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel ProustI, like Paul Schneider, saw this at an advance screening at CWRU.When I heard a couple weeks earlier that we would be having thisfilm, I looked it up, read the plot excerpt and said "Hey! This is thesame plot line as the original screenplay for the1986 ArgentinianMAN FACING SOUTHEAST!" And I see at least one other
commenter noted this. So I mentioned that in the "movierecommendations" for both.K-PAX was adapted from the 1995 book of the same name byGene Brewer. Did Gene ever see MAN FACING SOUTHEAST ?
Dunno. Are the plot lines similar? Extremely. Are the storiesdifferent? Well, yes and no. You can't copyright an idea. As Goethesaid "Everything's been thought of before; the trouble is to think of itagain." Just as LIFE AS A HOUSE is a remake of IKURU, it's adifferent story, although the plot lines aren't nearly as similar. The transition from book to screenplay was rather faithful, with theline from ALIEN intact, the comment about produce and the patientpopulation. There was a little feel of Tennessee Williams with onepatient that wasn't in the book - I thought that was a nice literarytouch.***Possible spoilers***There were a couple plot lines altered - the doctor in the book hasbeen married only once, a subplot with a free-lance reporter whoeventually turns up Robert Porter is missing, and prot's departurewas handled better in the film I thought - and the book deals well(as the film could not) with K-paxian spelling and pronunciation(page 6 for the curious).Whether you liked this film or not, it's worth the time to check outMAN FACING SOUTHEAST if only to get a feel for the differentsensitivities (or lack thereof by the comments of some;) of NorthAmerican and South American cinematic art.As to prot's true identity? I liked Willy Calloway's observations,although I may not totally agree with them. What I would add is to think of the significance of the reflectedimages of prot and the doctor merging into each other.You also might be interested in knowing Gene Brewer has just(2001) come out with another book: ON A BEAM OF LIGHT. Thelibrary catalog I looked at had 5 classifications: Psychotherapist &patient fiction; Life on other planets fiction; Multiple personalityfiction; New York fiction; Psychological fiction; Science fiction.If K-PAX does well (and I'm betting it will) I think we may have moreBrewer-inspired films
The movie is OK, but it's a remake
posted on 12 Aug 2009K-Pax is a good movie. Spacey plays well as a mental patient-alien, and the movie never goes overboard with drama. Let's say that it is well balanced.What surprised me from K-Pax was its similarity to an 1980's Argentine film entitled "Man Facing Southeast", directed and WRITTEN by Eliseo Subiela. The movie is about... guess... a man who appears suddenly in a mental hospital claiming that he comes from outer space, and through the movie, he helps people. You can check this out on this site, just look for the film I mentioned. Is this a uncredited remake or what?
Beautiful and Underrated
posted on 02 Aug 2009If you have enjoyed the Butterfly Effect, Donnie Darko or The Machinist, you will enjoy K-Pax too.To me, this movie felt really uplifting and yet depressing in the end. Spacey delivers a great performance as Prot. Also, lets not forget the appearance of Saul Williams in the movie, who i am a big fan of.After watching it, i recommended the movie to lots of my friends, and everyone was pretty much blown away.But still, it is very underrated, maybe because of the lack of action and explosions. I'm sorry, this is not a movie about blowing things up, it's about how humans behave, and how people live in worlds that don't exist.Go on, and enjoy.
a truly enigmatic and beautiful film
posted on 15 Jul 2009K-Pax, while coming off as trite at certain points, especially in Prot's last comments regarding the regeneration of the universe and the glorified notions of family, is still a fantastic movie. The art direction is flawless,drawing appropriate attention to aspects of life that we take for granted. The light refracting off a prism, a blue jay nesting on a tree etc. The biblical allusions relating Prot to the Messiah are of course evident, although, seen in its own individual light, there is much elegance in the tale being told here. The planet K Pax, is described by Prot to be a wonderfully beautiful environment, almost like an utopian society, and yet their immense intelligence and capacity to be so isolated from one another makes it seem almost cold. Like the Universe perhaps, there is really no telling which world one would prefer to live in. The miracle that is K Pax, or the mix and match jumble sale that is the Earth. Spacey's portrayal is fluid and perfect, though a little too much like his other roles, there is no telling where Spacey ends and Prot begins. And i am seriously wondering if he is starting to get typecast and should leave off such in-depth roles for a while.It is a movie that excites the senses, and fires the imagination. And never have I craved a fruit salad more!
...WOW...
posted on 13 Jul 2009I saw this movie last year- and it still makes me think. I'll be honest- science fiction is NOT my favorite type of movie- but this one was
different. The actors were great, the music was great- and everything
fit together. The ending is actually a possible 2 endings- if you've seen it I think you know what I mean. It's weird but totally kewl how the guy opens up his mind during the "talks" and tells the story. It was so sad! :*( Yessssssss- this movie is verrrrry good. I think thatto understand this movie you have to see it more than once. But- for allyou non-science fiction luvers like me- you should still rent it onenight. Grab a pillow and cuddle up on your couch- this movie will changeyou.
Interesting Movie...
posted on 07 Jul 2009Out of all the movies I've seen dealing with alien life, this is by far one of the most interesting and well presented. Instead of having a character who is trying to hide his existance as an extraterrestrial, we have one who openly admits this, to such an extent that he is considered an insane human. Spacely's character Prot, answers all the traditional questions which one might ask an alien to prove that he isn't really human. Will some of his answers are obscure, I found them all quite satisfying. I'm glad the movie actually addressed such issues instead of leaving unsightly plotholes.*SPOILER WARNING* Lots of people seem to be bashing this movie for it's "You decide what happened" ending. My personal opinion is that this isn't the case. What I got from the story was that Prot's species had to somehow occupied a human's body in order to exist on earth, but the human would still be there, coexisting in the same body with the alien. Prot occupied and made friends with a human (forgot his name) in this way and visited often. On the night of the murder, this human broke down emotional and tried to kill himself. Prot managed to save the body but the man's mind was gone. At the end of the movie when Prot returns home, he leaves the body behind, asking the Dr to take care of it. Evidence that he was really alien is overwhelming. He could see ultraviolet light. He was able to diagram his solar system, which the world's top Astrologers couldn't do with the data they had. He disappeared from a high-security mental institution and reappeared days later. Finally, he was able to take one of the patients with him to K-PAX. So tell me, how could he not be alien. I got the impression that the director wasn't trying to hide the fact that he was an alien, especially considering all the hints and clues that were put in the movie. *END OF SPOILERS*Overall, K-PAX is a great movie which gives an interesting perspective on the issue of life on other planets. I recommend this movie and give it a 9 of 10.
Very clever and well thought out, plus amazing acting!
posted on 01 Jul 2009The One Word that came out of my mouth after seeing this movie?:WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Let me tell you, this is going to be a CLASSIC!!! I was dubious about seeing the movie, because I thought it looked tacky. However, I found it to be one of the best movies of the year (#2 on my list).The plot is that a man, who calls himself 'prot', claims he is from another planet, refered to as K-PAX. Ppl think "This man is insane", and the police evntually send him to an Insane Assylum to clear up his thoughts and send him back to normal. However, once Dr. Mark Powell, a psychologist, has a few talks with him, it starts to seem that he could be from the planet K-PAX. Is this possible? This question is asked a lot throughout the movie.The main reason you could enjoy the movie is because of all the other ppl at the assylum. They're acting is fabulous. The actors/actresses with these parts were able to show how they wanted, and would do anything, to get out. The ending of the story makes you feel sad for these ppl stuck here for life.THIS IS A MUST SEE MOVIE, I WOULD VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH RECCOMEND SEEING IT!!!)
I bet Planet K-Pax sucks. I know the movie did.
posted on 23 Jun 2009The boredom was too much. The movie goes on and on and on. Atfirst the alien plot is intriguing, but after the first hour, everycharacter is still standing around scratching his/her head saying,"Is he an alien or isn't he?" I stopped caring.The movie didn't bother explaining one important point: Why didProt take over the body of this guy in New Mexico? Why did Portchoose him? And why were we supposed to care about the NewMexico man's family who got killed. We never meet the wife or kid,and we only see the father in a hypnotic state. The whole subplotabout New Mexico and murder is just stupid.One more thing. If Jeff Bridges makes one more movie where he'smarried to a hot woman 20 years younger than him, I'm going topuke. In every movie he's in, he has little kids running around him.For crying out loud, the man's got grandkids older than hisonscreen kids. Not an important point, but it bothers me.
very disappointing
posted on 11 Jun 2009we watched a DVD of this movie which had been recommended by a friend. Altho the mental hospital patients were certainly "idealized" the movie was fairly enjoyable up until the denouement, starting with the hypnosis sessions. Prot and Robert Porter were one and the same and this is my first real disillusionment with the film. Robert Porter was 31! and wonderful an actor as Kevin Spacey is, he is certainly not 31. As other viewers have said Prot was a disassociated "friend" of Roberts. Remember under hypnosis he said he just was there when Robert needed him?. Probably the first time at Roberts fathers funeral. At this point in the hypnosis Robert/Prot was speaking in a very little boys voice. so even if Roberts father had taught him about astronomy how much realistically could he have taught when Robert was 3 or 4? O.k. another really big flaw. Even if all the stuff about K Pax was out of left field Robert/Prot was an individual of great intellectual abilities, so why even at the age of 17 would he have had to have a job as a "whacker" (I think that's what they called it) in a cow killing factory? Here's a really petty, but to me, a very annoying (and unnecessary fault) when the Doctor and the sheriff visit Robert's abandoned house where the murders took place; the house looked like it had been unlived in for 105 years, not just 5! An even more egregious and really cheating element was the scene in the Museum of Natural histories' observatory when Prot was drawing the rotation of the suns around K pax and the scientists then plugged in the coordinates. An honest movie maker would be intelligent and brave enough to have a straight forward explanation for his characters. So as Robert/Prot was acceptably intelligent and loving and traumatized, tossing in that observatory scene, his missing 3 days from the hospital (was he really up that tree the whole time) and Bess' absence later are really asking too much of any observant audience.
I was very pleasantly surprised by this film.
posted on 05 Jun 2009I had been looking forward to seeing K-Pax before it was released. It sounded like a really nifty premise, and it also had Kevin Spacey, so I thought it had to be good. Then the critical and box-office reception was lukewarm at best. I was afraid that it wasn't any good, but I then went to see it anyway. I'm glad that I did. I really liked it a lot. It may not have been perfect, but it was, in my opinion, quite a lot of fun, and definitely better than most Hollywood pictures of this year. I would strongly recommend it to anyone.
Must see!
posted on 18 May 2009As others have pointed out, this film has several flaws. However, if you have ever known someone who has worked in the field of mental heath, or if you work in that field, this is a great film. Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, et. al. do a good job portraying the complex inner workings of the mind and soul and how the mental health professionals try to work with these patients.
Interesting, but missing a little something...
posted on 08 May 2009It was an interesting movie full of the lessons of life. Kevin Spacey plays a very interesting role and is convincing everyone (including the audience). I like the movie overall, but there was just a little something missing toward the end that left me unsatisfied. Nevertheless, a good movie to see for an interesting take on a movie.
Well-developed story saves K-PAX from pretension
posted on 14 Apr 2009Name: Kevin Spacey.Occupation: Actor.Diagnosis: Early stages of `Robin Williams Disease.' (Also known as `Robert Redford Disease.')Symptoms: Will agree to play roles only of characters who are too good for this world. They lack any discernible faults, unless carrying the woes and sorrows of the humanity upon one's shoulders is considered to be a character flaw. Notes: Kevin Spacey is a great actor and was well deserving of the 1999 Oscar for best actor for his role in American Beauty. But it may have gone to his head.What made American Beauty so great was that Spacey's character was decidedly flawed -- a middle class family man going through one Mother of a middle age crisis.His most notable role since then was in the incredibly contrived Pay It Forward. In this movie, he's a teacher with a burn scar that covers half his face, the wound inflicted by a father who set him on fire. Oh, please...(Spacey did play a compelling character, a temperamental salesman, in The Big Kahuna, but beyond a lot of theatrics, absolutely nothing happened in this movie. Paint drying is not an art form).In K-PAX, his latest project to hit the screen, Spacey plays Prot, a man who claims to be an alien from the distant planet K-PAX, thus landing him in a psychiatric ward. His psychiatrist, played by Jeff Bridges, has diagnosed him as delusional, but is also secretly convinced that Prot may really be a being from another planet.Once again, Spacey walks very close to the edge of pretension. More than just a few moments of K-PAX consist of our alien visitor lecturing the good doctor about the shortcomings of us earthlings while not curing all in the ward of their various psychological ailments.It's almost as if Spacey was not satisfied with playing a supporting role to the Christ figure in Pay It Forward and more or less decided to play Christ himself.Fortunately, as close as K-PAX comes to falling down the slippery slope into the pit of suckiness, it never quite teeters over the edge. Based on the book by Gene Brewer of the same name, K-PAX turns out to be a very well developed story augmented by a taught musical score, strong directing -- and some exemplary acting by Spacey.In other words, K-PAX provides good reason to make yet another movie about some guy who may or may not be a creature from outer space and Spacey was a good choice for the main role. Yes, it did occur to me that the way I've approached this review may have been a little pretentious in itself. But we're not talking about me, we're talking about someone else right now, and that someone would be well-advised to keep his ego in check. Best actor is a big award, but when all is said and done, the Oscar is just a trophy (of some guy without any clothes on at that).Soon to make it into the cinemas will be The Shipping News. For this one, Spacey packed on 25 pounds to play a portly `third rate reporter' who returns to his roots in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.After reading the novel of the same name by E. Annie Proulx, which was hilarious, I'll make a point of seeing this movie. And while I'm there, I'll be looking for signs that Spacey has finally come back down to earth.
Is Kevin "Spacey"?
posted on 10 Apr 2009Hi- Well for a lot of people this movie wasn't good enough or something, I don't even know (If you ask me, people nowadays expect WAY too much from movies, even though there are some very good ones that haven't gotten too much recognition, like A.I. and Hearts in Atlantis) Anyways, K-PAX may very well be one of those movies. But me?, I really enjoyed this. It was entertaining and kept my interest throughout the whole movie and the acting was definitely one of the year's best and there should definitely be a lot of OSCAR TALK about K-PAX. Kevin Spacey is such a great actor and this is proof. He is so genuine in this role that I kept thinking "There is no way this guy is human."Thanks. Oh yeah, you should see this movie. Thanks for reading my review.Take Care.
Very heart warming and excellent performances
posted on 10 Apr 2009I have to say by a surprise reaction I thought this was a very good movie. Even though I am a major fan of Kevin Spacey's, I had my doubts about the movie. To me, it looked kind of boring, but it was very good.MILD SPOILERS...Prot is an alien from the planet "K-Pax" who lands on Earth. He is taken to a mental hospital, and put under a doctor's care. But the doctor is eventually getting more and more convinced that Prot is telling the truth. Prot tells the other patients he can only take one human back to his planet. Which leads to a somewhat surprising ending that I will not spoil.I would highly recommend this movie for a good watch.8/10
Prot who declares to be an alien from K-pax helps the psychopathics to recover.He has a wonderful knowledge about the astronomy which surprises the astronomers .His psychiatrist who dose not believe him try
posted on 25 Mar 2009I am not in the position of giving comment on such an excellent work but I like just to express my feeling abuot this film.K-pax is one of those films that I enjoy to see it for more than ten times.The subject matter of the film & very brilliant play of Mr.Kevin Spacy all together led to illustration of the film that nowadays ,unfortunately,we are not lucky to see.In the time rise of machine in which we are getting far from humanity this film is a hint to awaken us from this long sleep.Thanks to all credits I hope to see this kind of films again.
Everything I was expecting
posted on 15 Mar 2009I just saw K-Pax at a sneak preview last night, and it was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. A human interest story, enjoyable but nothing special. They try and make you think a little at the end (is he REALLY an alien, or just crazy?)...TRY being the key word....except for the details though, I could guess the whole thing from the previews and trailers. Good acting by Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges helped a lot. Gave it a 7.
Spacey rides again!
posted on 15 Mar 2009Kevin Spacey is once again magnificent in this often brilliant, sometimes disturbing film which explores themes of sanity and psychosis. In the same way as 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and more recently 'Girl, Interrupted', 'K-Pax' forces us to question our concepts of normality and tolerance of those different to ourselves. Spacey plays Prot, a patient given to clinical psychologist Dr Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) because he is under the illusion/delusion that he is an alien from the planet K-Pax. Over the course of the film Prot performs several 'miracles' which convince the other inmates at the Institute, as well as some of Dr Powell's friends and family, that he is indeed an alien. Powell however remains convinced that Prot's delusion is connected somehow to an event in his past, which he must find out before the 'alien' returns to K-Pax. The revelation towards the end of the film is both disturbing and unexpected and we are left as the credits roll up still questioning not only the truth about Prot, but the correctness of Powell's actions in dealing with him. Spacey's portrayal of the often almost satirical Prot is at once funny and believable, and spars well with the cynical Powell. Bridges performs adequately, if at times a little wooden, but this film is more just another opportunity for Kevin Spacey to show what a brilliant and versatile actor he is.
Kevin Spacey perfection
posted on 09 Mar 2009One should not miss this fine and entertaining film with a masterful performance by Kevin Spacey. The scenes in the psychiatry wards were a little far fetched, but then that did not matter, since the entire film is a fantasy world subject that is handled in a very delicate way. I can highly recommend it to cinema enthusiasts.
Outstanding
posted on 26 Aug 2009The writeup for this film caught my eye on the Film4 web site here in the UK, and being marked 4.5 out of 5 I thought what the heck, I can watch the first 10 minutes and then switch to something else if it doesn't look up to much.Well I didn't switch over, I watched it the whole way thru. I was actually amazed at the end to find that I was still captivated by the plot.There was some seriously good acting by Spacey IMHO.Throughout the film and beyond they managed to keep a question at the forefront of your mind, and never answered it - was Prot really from a distant planet or was this a jumbled-up individual? I thought that would be revealed at the end, but it wasn't - the producers actually managed to create new questions instead of answering obvious ones.Top marks from me. This is a film which I am going to watch again, because I feel that 2nd time around I will be picking up new details which I managed to miss first time around.Good work to the producers and everyone involved in this film. It gets a very rare 10 out of 10 from me here at IMDb.