A lonely neurologist (Robin Williams) takes a job at a Bronx
psychiatric hospital to care for catatonic patients who suffered from an
encephalitis outbreak during the Great Depression. After discovering signs of
life still apparent in his patients and developing a bond with a man entranced
since childhood (Robert De Niro), he begins administering test dosages of
L-DOPA and once thought hopeless cases begin to reawaken. Penny Marshall’s Awakenings, based on the true life work
of Dr. Oliver Sacks, is fascinating in its early stages by eventually spins its
wheels and is tarnished by a feeling cuing soundtrack and an unfounded romantic
subplot involving Penelope Ann Miller. Williams and De Niro, nonetheless, are
extraordinary in some of the finest work of their careers and Julie Kavner and
John Heard have great turns in support.
*** out of ****
