"K-PAX" and "Man Facing South-East"
Baron Wolfgang von Schreck
"K-Pax", which stars Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges (two of the five best
living American actors, in my not-so humble opinion). The plot reads
suspiciously like a remarkable (but little known) Agentinian film named "Man
Facing South-East". Funny thing is, though, that I've found no "based on..."
in the ad credits.
So this begs the question: Is "K-Pax" an official remake or simply a
rip-off? Anyone got a clue?
Just Wondering,
B
A.A.Milne
"Baron Wolfgang von Schreck" <ra...@pipeline.com> wrote in message
news:9r5uri$j7l$1...@slb3.atl.mindspring.net...
L.
everything i've read/seen makes me think of man
facing southeast. even if it is based on a book.
L.
______
Lincoln Stewart
hu...@bsalientomato.com
(cut out the bs to email)
Maj. Bushteaser
Q. I am obsessing over this new film, ''K-PAX.'' Do you remember the 1986
film, ''Man Facing Southeast?'' It was an Argentinean film, but, as I
recall, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. Apparently, ''K-PAX'' is
based on a novel of the early '90s, by Gene Brewer. How can this be? The
stories seem identical.
Kaylie Jones, Southampton College, Long Island University
A. I won't see ''K-PAX,'' starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, until
Tuesday. But many similar messages have come to the Answer Man, and Meinert
Hansen of Montreal writes, ''The trailer for 'K-PAX' even has scenes
identical to 'Man Facing Southeast.' ''
This is from Peter Henne's interview with Iain Softley, the director of
''K-PAX,'' in Film Journal International: ''Told that the basic plot of
'K-PAX' repeats the Argentine film 'Man Facing Southeast,' directed by
Eliseo Subiela, and recalls that of Terry Gilliam's 'The Fisher King,'
Softley isn't fazed. The fact that Bridges plays a man filled with
compassion for another who is ostensibly, but not certainly, delusional in
both films makes the resemblance especially strong. 'I don't think there are
enough films like ''The Fisher King,'' Softley counters. 'If it's similar to
that genre, it's kind of an indication how unique it is. How many cop films,
for example, are like each other, or gangster films, or romantic comedies?
It seems to be the same kind of story. I don't think there are enough films
of what could be classed as a modern fable, such as this.' ''
''K-PAX'' is based on a novel by Gene Brewer, published in 1995. Subiela's
screenplay for ''Man Facing Southwest'' lists no sources, but Eric M. Van of
Harvard notes on the Internet Movie Database that it is ''clearly influenced
by Philip K. Dick's autobiographical last novels VALIS and The
Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and Subiela makes this explicit by naming
the lead female character 'Beatriz Dick.' ''
Of course Philip K. Dick himself toyed with the theory that we are all
living in about 40 A.D. and imagining everything else, which was why one of
his short stories turned out to contain the names of people he met later,
and to be a detailed parallel of the Book of Acts, which he had never read
(this story is told in Richard Linklater's new film ''Waking Life'').
--
Steve Richer
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sricher/
Clown of presidential scale
"Baron Wolfgang von Schreck" <ra...@pipeline.com> wrote
MC
"Maj. Bushteaser" <DONTsri...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> The fact that Bridges plays a man filled with
> compassion for another who is ostensibly, but not certainly, delusional in
> both films makes the resemblance especially strong. 'I don't think there are
> enough films like ''The Fisher King,'' Softley counters.
Seconded.
L.
i thought fisher king was a rather weak film,
actually. though i'm not a huge fan of man facing
southeast, either, it is a considerably more
accomplished effort than gilliam's flick.
it seems to me that by bringing up FK, the
director has essentially redirected the question
and therefore not answered it. sure, thematically
the two films are similar (a man filled with
compassion for another who is ostensibly, but not
certainly, delusional)--but i think fans of MFSE
are not implying a similarity on that level, but
on a much more surface level. the imdb gives the
description of k-pax as "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." this,
with the exception of the character name, is
EXACTLY what man facing southeast is about, if i
remember correctly.
the two films are not similar on vague level, but
on a specific level.
Brevity
I remember seeing and really enjoying that Argentinian film, oh, about
15 years ago. Didn't the guy in that film claim to be Jesus? A minor
plot difference, yes, but it is possible that this film was done
completely independently of the other. There have been many films
over the years of single, human appearing beings claiming to be aliens
suddenly appearing on Earth. If it is based on the other film, that
info might just appear in the credits, and not in the ads or trailers.
Bob Stone
Associate Editor
Hollywood Scriptwriter
http://www.hollywoodscriptwriter.com
buy HS items at http://www.cafepress/hsstore
(remove the x to reply via email)
Julian
written by Charles Leavitt and Bryan Goluboff, each with at least one made
feature film to his credit.
new...@virtual.com
wrote:
>I remember seeing and really enjoying that Argentinian film, oh, about
>15 years ago. Didn't the guy in that film claim to be Jesus? A minor
>plot difference, yes, but it is possible that this film was done
>completely independently of the other. There have been many films
>over the years of single, human appearing beings claiming to be aliens
>suddenly appearing on Earth.
Bob -
This seems to happen a lot on my home planet too.
Doug
Just a virtual guy... in a virtual world.
Felicia Daunt
Ciao for niao,
Felicia
------------------
remove asterisk to e-mail
new...@virtual.com
<sme...@oberon.ark.com> wrote:
>Doug, you have got to be the cutest poster on this newsgroup. :o)
>
>Ciao for niao,
>Felicia
Holy Fuck... It seems to be spreading.
And I don't mean anything by that, ..K?
Aron
> So this begs the question: Is "K-Pax" an official remake or simply a
> rip-off? Anyone got a clue?
>
> Just Wondering,
>
> B
The story of the madman who might or might not be right goes back to Harvey
or even more further back.
MC
"Aron" <a.dal...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
> The story of the madman who might or might not be right goes back to Harvey
> or even more further back.
Just saw K-Pax this afternoon &, derivative or not, enjoyed it a whole
lot. I always like Jeff Bridges when he plays the introspective Everyman
in extraordinary circumstances. Fisher King comes to mind, as does
Fearless. His choices of roles are usually pretty solid.
By the way, can someone gove me a little info about the very first
couple of minutes of K-Pax? The projection was fucked up at the start of
the film & I went out to try & find someone who get it fixed, and I
missed exactly what happens at the start. I came in as kevin Spacey was
being bundled into an ambulance -- how, why & where does he get
apprehended?
Shlockhack
>> rip-off? Anyone got a clu
let's not forget a movie called "simon" from 1980: "... satire about a college
professor who thinks he's an alien".
----------------------------------------
Fennyman: Who is that? [Shakespeare]
Owner of the Rose Theater: Nobody. The Writer.
L.
(Shlockhack) wrote:
>> So this begs the question: Is "K-Pax" an official remake or simply a
>>> rip-off? Anyone got a clu
>
>let's not forget a movie called "simon" from 1980: "... satire about a college
>professor who thinks he's an alien".
simon is about as similar to man facing southeast
as fisher king is to mfse. ie not really similar
at all.
Steven J. Weller
"Aron" <a.dal...@btinternet.com> writes:
> > So this begs the question: Is "K-Pax" an official remake or simply a
> > rip-off? Anyone got a clue?
> >
> > Just Wondering,
>
> The story of the madman who might or might not be right goes back to Harvey
> or even more further back.
It's not an official re-make; it's based on a novel (which I haven't
read) that post-dates MFSE.
But it's much more... um... coincidental, maybe? than just 'a madman
who might be right.' In both, the 'madman' is convinced he's an alien
come to earth to help secure earth's salvation, starting with the
mental health worker who's assigned to cure him of his delusion (after
he allows himself to be incarcerated). Said mental health worker, over
the course of the story, comes to believe that delusion (sic) more and
more, and a somewhat less than abiguus ending seems to indicate that he
was, after all, exactly who he claimed to be.
It might be worth checking to see if K-Pax's source novel was inspired
by MFSE (I don't kknow if that was an original-for-the-screen or based
on a novel, but if the latter, the novel was most likely in Spanish).
Or, it might not be. This is ground that's been covered before; a film
called Mr. Frost is virtually exactly the same story, only instead of
the mental patient being Christ-like, Jeff Goldblum plays a an who
claims to be none other than Satan himself, with the goal of convincing
his shrink of that fact.
--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven
Sam Jennings
> couple of minutes of K-Pax? The projection was fucked up at the start of
> the film & I went out to try & find someone who get it fixed, and I
> missed exactly what happens at the start. I came in as kevin Spacey was
> being bundled into an ambulance -- how, why & where does he get
> apprehended?
The film begins in Grand Central Station. Prot "materializes" in a shaft
of brilliant sunlight. This is noticed by a panhandler (but nobody else
seems to have seen this).
Suddenly, a woman in the station is assaulted and her luggage is stolen.
She is knocked to the floor by two assailants who run away into the
crowd. Prot tries to help the woman to her feet. The police arrive at
the same time and assume that Prot was the person who attacked the
woman. The panhandler tries to explain to the police that Prot was
helping the lady up from the floor.
The policewoman asks Prot if he is traveling, and he says that he has
just arrived. They ask him where his luggage is, and he says he doesn't
have any, and that he has no identification, and that he's from the
planet K-PAX. The policewoman decides that he's mentally ill and radios
for a car to take him away.
Outside the train station the policewoman who arrested Prot asks the
panhandler (whom she seems to be on a first-name basis with) about Prot,
and again the panhandler tries to convince her that he was trying to
help.
MC
In article
<scjennings-2D693...@newssvr21-ext.news.prodigy.com>,
Ovum
Bridges fan.
But, no.
Side note: does anyone besides me notice that Jeff Bridges talks funny? It's
like his tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth or something. Very weird.
------------------------------------------------
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