David O'ConnellAwake: Medical Fact or Fiction in Film?
July 23rd 2008 03:33
Do filmmakers really expect us to swallow the implausabilities they sometimes fill their stories with? Or are they simply relying on their audiences’ gullibility in believing them or shrugging them aside because they’re so riveted by what happens before them on the screen?
Awake, a feature by first time writer-director Joby Harold, begins as an interesting drama about a prosperous and powerful young businessman with a bad heart needing an immediate transplant to survive, before heading into more predictable thriller territory; it’s full of those requisite twists which alter our association with certain characters, and littered along the way by occasionally ludicrous developments which have no actual connection to what would happen in the real world under the same circumstances.
In the end we all just want to be entertained by films of this ilk so it’s not that difficult to cast aside our doubts, to suspend our disbelief, to afford the filmmaker some slack if their film is otherwise well crafted. Awake is certainly that and at 75 minutes long a very manageable length too.
Hayden Christensen plays Clay Beresford, the man about to undergo surgery when a suitable heart donor becomes available, as it does on the very night that he impulsively marries his girlfriend Sam (Jessica Alba), a secret he’s withheld from his powerful mother Lilith (Lena Olin) for a year, fearing her disapproval. His best friend, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) will perform the surgery, also against the wishes of his manipulative mother who wants to bring in her own surgeon.
The operation gets underway and soon the real horror begins for Clay – he’s one of the 30,000 patients a year who remain horribly awake during surgery, suffering from “anesthetic awareness”, paralysed but able to view his surroundings and feel pain even whilst “under” the medication. Director Harold milks this detail, specified in the opening captions of the film, allowing for Clay to then have an out-of-body experience, his pained spirit roaming the hospital, doing the detective work as he uncovers the conspiracies surrounding both his life and imminent death.
The twists are excellent, albeit ludicrous, ones but you can’t help being drawn in, so skillfully are our first impressions of all the main characters manipulated. There’s genuine suspense and intrigue built up, a lot more successfully than in some other thrillers which have been given a cinema release recently (which Awake apparently wasn’t in Australia, going straight to dvd).
Who knows what underlying truths Joby Harold used for his interesting first feature; what’s patently clear though is that he’s used a bit of outrageous creative license in forwarding his narrative at certain key junctures.
A loved one walks into the operating theatre to see how it's progressing, a person dies in a waiting room and is immediately wheeled in and used as an organ donor...............thoroughly stupid? Absolutely!!
But I guess I swallowed it all in the end because, against my better judgement, I found Awake quite entertaining.
Awake, a feature by first time writer-director Joby Harold, begins as an interesting drama about a prosperous and powerful young businessman with a bad heart needing an immediate transplant to survive, before heading into more predictable thriller territory; it’s full of those requisite twists which alter our association with certain characters, and littered along the way by occasionally ludicrous developments which have no actual connection to what would happen in the real world under the same circumstances.
In the end we all just want to be entertained by films of this ilk so it’s not that difficult to cast aside our doubts, to suspend our disbelief, to afford the filmmaker some slack if their film is otherwise well crafted. Awake is certainly that and at 75 minutes long a very manageable length too.
Hayden Christensen plays Clay Beresford, the man about to undergo surgery when a suitable heart donor becomes available, as it does on the very night that he impulsively marries his girlfriend Sam (Jessica Alba), a secret he’s withheld from his powerful mother Lilith (Lena Olin) for a year, fearing her disapproval. His best friend, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) will perform the surgery, also against the wishes of his manipulative mother who wants to bring in her own surgeon.
Clay's surgery is about to commence
The operation gets underway and soon the real horror begins for Clay – he’s one of the 30,000 patients a year who remain horribly awake during surgery, suffering from “anesthetic awareness”, paralysed but able to view his surroundings and feel pain even whilst “under” the medication. Director Harold milks this detail, specified in the opening captions of the film, allowing for Clay to then have an out-of-body experience, his pained spirit roaming the hospital, doing the detective work as he uncovers the conspiracies surrounding both his life and imminent death.
The twists are excellent, albeit ludicrous, ones but you can’t help being drawn in, so skillfully are our first impressions of all the main characters manipulated. There’s genuine suspense and intrigue built up, a lot more successfully than in some other thrillers which have been given a cinema release recently (which Awake apparently wasn’t in Australia, going straight to dvd).
Who knows what underlying truths Joby Harold used for his interesting first feature; what’s patently clear though is that he’s used a bit of outrageous creative license in forwarding his narrative at certain key junctures.
A loved one walks into the operating theatre to see how it's progressing, a person dies in a waiting room and is immediately wheeled in and used as an organ donor...............thoroughly stupid? Absolutely!!
But I guess I swallowed it all in the end because, against my better judgement, I found Awake quite entertaining.
Clay's spiritual half roaming the corridors in search of the truth
Lena Olin is good support as Clay's mum.........nobody who's ever seen Romeo is Bleeding has forgotten her!
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