Final

Human Story of a Mental Breakdown

Main Cast: Denis Leary, Hope Davis, Jim Hornyak, Maureen Anderman

Director: Campbell Scott

More of a stage production than a sprawling movie, this small but moving story focuses on just two main characters and one location, some type of hospital. Bill (Leary) wakes up in a plain room on a simple cot. He’s obviously been through some type of operation, because he sways from either weariness or drugs. A young woman arrives, dressed in a white coat, and introduces herself as Anne (Davis). Apparently Bill will stay right here until she decides he is competent enough to leave.

That won’t be easy. He suffers from moments of rage and high emotion, and is convinced the year is 2399 and he is about to die. She insists that it is 1999, and he is recovering from a truck crash. There are a few clues, in dream-like flashbacks, that seem to support her case, but he seems convinced. Anne tries to reason with him for most of the film, which is set mostly in the small room, or outside the hospital. It is definitely a film of talk, not action, although some does creep in at the end. But mostly it is about getting into the head of Bill, how he lived, and how he ended up at the hospital. and his growing relationship with Anne.

Both actors are very skilled and very believable, and while something does happen that casts doubts on a number of things that happened, I was willing to go along with this because of the skill of the actors.

A slow drama, just two people in a tight little place, but well crafted and worth a see.