Salameander.com

![K-PAX Poster][pic]

I watched [K-PAX][kpax] for the 3rd time, on this occasion with my in-laws. There’s this certain magic about the movie which has captured my heart. Those of you who know me fairly well would be aware that I’m not really a movie person, so it’s quite a big deal to me when there’s a flick out there that sticks in my head for such a long time. K-PAX is, I think, one of the few gems of the silver screen, in the sense that it falls back to the very essence of entertainment—having a good story tell itself without the need for sexual tension, loud noises or flashy scenes.

[pic]: 20050208-kpax.jpg “I didn’t arrive by train”
[kpax]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272152/ “Read the viewers’ comments”

My in-laws found certain parts of it slow-going and banking too heavily on conversation, but I felt that those were the scenes where one had the opportunity to grasp the depth of the two main characters in the show—Prot (Kevin Spacey) and Dr Powell (Jeff Bridges)—whom the directors have done well to portray and endear to the audience.

Here are some of the possible reasons why I am so enthusiastic about this movie (in no particular order):

1. Prot’s character which exhudes exceptional intelligence, and yet has the element of childlike, trusting innocence.

2. [Lines][lines] like this: “Let me tell you something, Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, which is known throughout the universe for its… stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had quite a different vision; but nobody’s paid much attention to them, not even the Buddhists or the Christians.”

3. The surprisingly succesful amalgamation of astrophysics, psychology, wit, the heights and depths of human emotion.

4. Edward Shearmur’s cool atmospheric [soundtrack][st], which Jerry McCully described as “quiet, mystically introspective music that seems as uncomplicated—and yet innately profound—as an autumn breeze.”

If you haven’t already watched this movie, and you’re in a mood for having your thoughts provoked, do try and get hold of K-PAX. It didn’t make it to Malaysian shores, but we all know where to look for obscure titles now, don’t we?

[lines]: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/K-PAX
[st]: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QK55/