Awakenings
| Awakenings | |
|---|---|
 Film Poster | |
| Directed by | Penny Marshall |
| Produced by | Lawrence Lasker Walter F. Parkes |
| Written by | Oliver Sacks (novel) Steven Zaillian (screenplay) |
| Starring | Robert De Niro Robin Williams John Heard Julie Kavner Penelope Ann Miller and Max Von Sydow |
| Music by | Randy Newman |
| Cinematography | Miroslav Ondrícek |
| Editing by | Battle Davis, Gerald B. Greenberg |
| Release date(s) | 1990 |
| Running time | 121 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
- This article is about a 1990 film. For other uses, see Awakening.
Awakenings is a 1990 drama film based on Oliver Sacks' memoir, Awakenings. It tells the true story of a doctor (Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as Malcolm Sayer) who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa. He applied it on catatonic patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. The patients awaken after decades of catatonic state and have to deal with a new life in a new time.
Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, and Penelope Ann Miller. Jazz legend Dexter Gordon also appears as a patient.
The movie was adapted by Steven Fredrick Zaillian from the book of the same name. The book was also used by Harold Pinter as the basis of his one-act play A Kind of Alaska, performed in 1982.
The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro), Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
The film's plot was also the basis for one section of the Dream Theater song Octavarium.
External links
Categories
1990 films | Films based on actual events | Films based on non-fiction books | Best Picture Academy Award nominees | Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award nominated performance | Films directed by Penny Marshall