From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie The Lathe of Heaven released in 1980.
Starring:
Bruce Davison, Margaret Avery, and Kevin Conway
Directed by:
Fred Barzyk, David R. Loxton
Genre:
Sci-Fi
Rating:
Unavailable
Budget:
$250,000 estimated
IMDb Rating:
7.3
My Rating:
9.1
The Synopsis is:
It follows the story of George Orr, a unique man whose dreams are “effective dreams” that have the power to change reality. He doesn’t want his dreams to hurt anyone so he takes drugs to stay awake. He is mandated to seek help from Dr. Haber after he experiences an overdose. However, the doctor decides to use George’s gift as a means to create a better world.
Enjoyment:
I only saw this movie recently and to tell you the truth, I had been avoiding it for years. From the promotional material, I thought it was going to be a scary movie about a guy to gets the power to change reality and goes berserk. I was wrong. Yes it does have a serious creep factor, because of the subject matter, but it’s not what I thought it would be at all. I really enjoyed this very weird film.
Pacing:
At 1 hour and 45 minutes. It’s not excessively long, but the editing could have been snippier.
*WARNING: FROM THIS POINT FORWARD THERE MAY BE SPOILERS!*
Story:
The Lathe of Heaven is a made for TV film adaptation of the 1971 science fiction novel The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. I have read the book and there are some small differences. Ursula said she was influenced by Taoism while writing this book and the character, George Orr really embodies this idea with his passive response to the things going on around him. It’s only later in the story that he develops a voice to fight back. The term lathe of heaven is a part of Ursula’s translation of a Taoist quote. Lathe is a type of machine so the meaning of the title is The Machine of Heaven.
Challenge:
There are no outright villains. Although Dr. Haber is hate-able, he’s one of the good guys, trying to make the world a better place, but it is he who creates the challenge in the film. At first Dr. Haber is helpful and gentle, yet a non believer. However, once Dr. Haber begins to understand George’s dream abilities things change. He begins to realize the power that he can have through George and becomes more and more aggressive about imposing his will manipulating George into dreaming “effective dreams”. He even masters a way to induce George into sleeping at his command. He also serves his ego as he gets George to dream up an elaborate institute, prestige and lot’s of money. He wants to be mankind’s savior, but he doesn’t understand that meddling with the natural evolution of life could destroy it.
Empathy:
I absolutely love George Orr. He begins having “effective dreams”at the age of 17. There is a nuclear fallout that is shown at the very start of the film. It is implied that, that event triggers an alternate world through his dream. But it's not clear how the nuclear war started, so it could have been caused by one of George’s dreams. In this new reality he is hooked on drugs to keep himself from dreaming so he doesn’t alter the world anymore. He’s mandated to see Dr. Haber, who ends up using him to change the world into his utopia. I just want to give the poor guy a hug. His eyes look so afraid. Desperate for help, George seeks the help of civil liberties lawyer Heather Lelosh, who becomes a friend he can confide in and eventually his love interest. Their relationship saves him in a way and inspires him into taking action.
Technical:
For many years it’s been shown on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and went on to become the most-requested program in PBS history. Ursula K. Le Guin has mentioned in interviews that she was personally involved in the casting, script planning, re-writing, and filming of the production. It's so nice to have the author’s stamp of approval on this, which so many films don’t. The music was unique in this movie, playing up its futuristic science fiction theme with flute filled mystical synthesizers. I loved it. There are a lot of interesting details about the unique changes in the world every time George changes it. I thought it was fun seeing this play out through the makeup, costumes, and locations. With such a small budget, they achieved a lot. Unfortunately, though with their tiny budget, the film does have some rough edges to do with lighting, composition, and editing.
Performances:
I am not exactly a fan of all of the performances in this film and it may have had to do with the editing, but the main two characters played by Bruce Davison and Kevin Conway were incredible. Bruce brought a fierce sensitivity to his role as George understanding that change is something you can sometimes wait and let happen organically. And Kevin Conway, mostly known for his work on soap operas, plays Dr. Hagen with a stoic duty to aggressively advance mankind forward unnaturally if need be. The tug of war between the two characters is just wonderfully captured.
Best:
I really enjoyed to inclusion of a romantic relationship in this film which can sometimes come from left field in other movies. Here, it is a welcomed change and broke a lot of ground in the 1980’s prominently featuring an interracial couple. The concept of being able to change reality with dreams pretty much blew my mind. It is both thrilling and terrifying to me. I am sensitive to things like this so I ended up dreaming about changing reality for weeks after seeing the film. It played with my head for a bit. I also enjoyed the fact that even though there is a lot of talk of war and death, you don’t see any actual violence on screen and that is pretty cool for me.
Worst:
The turtle aliens. They were well designed, but it didn’t work for me. I also didn’t care for the light show at the end of the movie, which it is famous for… it is even featured on the cover art. I didn’t mind as a feature, but I thought it could have been a shorter sequence.
Wish List:
The film could have used a bit more undertones of sound effects and music because at times it seemed very much like a televised play. The big dream showdown at the end of the film really needed a little more cohesiveness to ground it better because it was too confusing what was happening. This movie was in need of some much tighter editing. There were a few shots that stayed on actors for longer than it should have which resulted in flat performances which is an injustice to the actors and the film.
The ending:
The ending was really a mash up of things and a lot is left up to your own interpretation. We are used to our stories being handed to us on film, but there is a genre of creative film which asks you to interpret what you see. For me, I love it because it's a movie that I can’t just forget once it’s over.
Summary:
I love this movie! What a cool idea of changing reality with dreams? What a power? I am also just still surprised that this film was able to pull off all of the things that it does with a budget of $250,000. That’s just incredible. If you like low budget older science fiction movies, this might be just the movie for you.
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it.
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
If you enjoy my content and want me to continue you can help at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/retronerdgirl
Follow Retro Nerd Girl on twitter: https://twitter.com/Retro_Nerd_Girl
Like Retro Nerd Girl on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retronerdgirl
No comments:
Post a Comment