Customer Reviews

Lathe of Heaven [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

The Arts and Entertainment channel decided to revisit Ursula K. Le Guin's science fiction classic, and their version premiered on television in 2002. The tendency is to want to compare this movie to the 1980 version or to the book, which ultimately casts it in an unfavorable light. Judged on its own merits, however, it is actually not too bad.

This movie still contains the basic premise of George Orr attempting to find a cure for his dreams that effective reality. The first half of the A&E version actually follows the book fairly closely. However, this movie almost completely dispenses with Dr. Haber's attempts to use George's power to bring the greatest good to the greatest number. In fact, Dr. Haber manipulates Georges power mostly for his own gain. Several aspects of the book and the original movie are completely left out, such as the alien invasion and their subsequent interaction with the characters. Instead, this movie focuses more on the relationship with George Orr and Heather Lelache. George continues to dream new realities in which he meets Heather again and again in a seemingly never-ending unfulfilled romance.

In this respect A&E's version of The Lathe of Heaven is like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. And in this respect, it is a decent, though not spectacular, movie. It disappoints, however, when compared to the original movie and the book. Though James Caan does a good Dr. Haber, Lukas Haas adds nothing to the character of George Orr, and Lisa Bonet, as Heather Lelache, seems to fade into the background in most scenes. In addition, much of the original story's observation on the use and misuse of power is lost in what is essentially a quaint love story.

Comprehensively defanged version of the Ursula LeGuin Scifi classic (her 2nd best novel after the (as yet unfilmed) Left Hand of Darkness), this DVD omits so many plot elements it is barely possible to follow it without having read the book, and if you've read the book, you won't want to.

Extra star because it *looks* good, especially the hot young leads, and James Caan and David Strathairn are always watchable. But the up to date special effects treatment of the aliens that many fans were waiting for is absent - in fact, there are no aliens! Plenty else missing, in particular a sense of pacing and excitement somehow got left on the cutting floor.

Correctly described by pipingbear as the "Latte of Heaven", sweet as far as it goes, but insubstantial, unsatisfying - and produced by a vast evil conglomerate!

This is the amongst the worst adaptations I've ever witnessed. Watching it was a complete waste of time. Any resemblance to either Ursula K. LeGuin's novel or the superb first movie from PBS is coincidental.

The writer ignores the philosophical and religious undertones of the novel -- captured beautifully in the earlier PBS production -- and prefers a monolithic, one-dimensional telling of a completely different story with entirely different characters, motives and consequences.

The acting, if you can call it that, is likewise monolithic and uninspired. Particularly disappointing were Cann and Haas, the main protagonists. Lisa Bonet attempts to rescue some scenes, but the wooden acting by Haas spoils her efforts. The one inspired element of the production, the scenes with David Strathairn's Mannie, is left useless by a lack of reason or context for the character's apparent knowledge. It doesn't help that in the original book and movie this role was filled by one of the space aliens, dreamed up by main character. In the A&E production Mannie is left hanging on a vine unattached to any other of the story's branches. The whole effect is one of confusion instead of focussing on the thought provoking ideas presented in both the original novel and PBS's far superior production.

My advice is to ignore this turkey. Buy the book and read it, or if you must view a video production, go with the inspired 1980
PBS production. This A&E production is shallow, uninspired and totally without merit when compared with the other sources.

Reading the other reviews I get the feeling that those praising
this turkey haven't read the book or seen the 1980 PBS version.

In 1980 PBS broadcast an adaptation of Ursula Le Guin's novel "The Lathe of Heaven", made with the close cooperation of Le Guin herself. The movie was an instant cult classic, and its subsequent 20-year disappearance from the airwaves only heightened its legend.

In 2002 A&E broadcast a new version called "Lathe of Heaven". The director boasted that he hadn't read the book nor watched the movie. And Ms. Le Guin was not consulted at any time in the process of making the movie.

The result? A brainless, gutless, pointless waste of time. So much of the plot from the book and PBS movie were discarded that no real plot remains. The aliens? Gone. The twisting effect of manipulated dreaming? Gone. The conflict between passive and active world-views, between Tao and technology? Gone. The tragedy of good intentions gone hopelessly awry? Gone. Well-written dialog, good acting, a coherent storyline? Gone, gone, and - yes, you guessed it - gone.

The novel and original PBS film were brilliant reflections on the nature of reality and existence, with plot twists that packed an emotional as well as an intellectual wallop and with involving, three-dimensional characters that you could care about. The A&E version replaces all that with a bit of hot tongue action between Lisa Bonet and Lucas Haas.

And it's not even GOOD hot tongue action.

Look, if you're looking for hot tongue action, go buy or rent some honest-to-goodness p0rn. It'll have more integrity than this A&E abomination. And if you're looking for one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, AND one of the best adaptations of a novel to film that was ever made, watch the PBS version of "The Lathe of Heaven". It's available on DVD once again, thank goodness. And will be watched with delight long after this filmed atrocity has been wiped from human memory.

The 1980 version is lovely--low budget but true to the book and Le Guin's vision. This clunker is hardly recognizable as the same story. Le Guin says she had nothing to do with it, and it shows. Don't waste your time on this version; get the 1980 instead.

Ms. LeGuin had the unique opportunity to have her novel become the first independent production by PBS. They worked on a shoe-string budget and shot the film in a few days - with unknowns as actors and something that this version of the film lacks: adherence to the book.

I'd give this a NEGATIVE five stars if it were possible because the director Philip Haas has wasted the talents of Lukas Haas, Lisa Bonet and David Strathairn as well as a budget that is clearly far, far in excess of the original film. (The cost of shooting the opulent wood paneled offices with inlay work from heaven -- obviously from some Swiss Bank -- must have exceeded the entire budget of the 1980 movie! )

This is more than a waste of time and money it is insipid! If only the producer and director had expended the money and effort on another of Ms. LeGuin's works -- and stayed on story -- this could have been a rave review. Whatever made these fools attempt a remake of an excellent movie adaptation of an excellent novel is beyond me - and beyond any reason to venture near this DVD. Watch the original and then send the director of this abomination out to do the same so he can find out how the job is done right!

It would be easy to dismiss Le Guin's novel as unfilmable, except for the fact that it has already been done and done well, managing to capture the subtleties of shifting histories and universes without having to rely on adding melodramatic subplots or spelling out blatantly what was handled with style and grace in the text.

All of which is a roundabout way to say that you can't watch this movie without comparing it with either the 1980 film or with the original novel and that this version is extremely disappointing. Nuance is replaced with blatant acting and a heavy handed score, slow discoveries replaced by melodrama and all humanity reduced to the emotions of a soap opera.

While it's obvious that many changes would have to be made in order to turn a fairly cerebral novel into an accessible movie, the changes made to this are extremely disappointing and I couldn't recommend this movie to anyone on any level. Leave it well enough alone and hope you can find either the 1980 movie or, preferably, the original book.

The only way this type of butchered travisty will not happen again is to vote with your dollars. This remake, which aired on A&E, is one of the worst efforts I have seen in a long time.

Get the original PBS version, also available on Amazon, if you want to get the feel of the real story, or buy the book. Sometimes failure is important to learn to be better and to stop under-estimating the audience. This 2002 production has a lot to teach about failure. Unfortunately, for those of us who know the original production and book, it's an unnecessary lesson that is unbearable to watch.

I am not someone who insists that a movie adhere strictly to the book on which it is based. Moreover, I recognize that a teleplay must omit some parts of the book in order to fit in an 80-minute timeframe. However, I expect the essential theme of the book to be maintained. This adaptation fails miserably in that respect.

Rather than paint a picture of the futility of playing God, director Philip Haas chose to give us a one-dimensional cliché of the self-aggrandizing scientist (James Caan's Dr. Haber) and us a shallow love story. Haber's desire to mold a better world through George Orr's power, his attempt to convince George to join him in the effort rather than resist, and his inability to see that the consequences of meddling with reality are unpredictable -- all of this is lost in Haas' adaptation. Instead, we see Haber using George to obtain successively more magnificent office space and a progressively more fashionable secretary. George's love interest, Heather, is reduced to an odd obsession; Heather's own attempt (and failure) in LeGuin's novel to use George's power for public good never appears in Haas' film.

Perhaps the pettiest departure from the book was Haas' choice to have Dr. Haber say "New York" (instead of "Antwerp") as the phrase that induces George Orr's dreams under hypnosis in their first session. Interestingly, Haber never uses the phrase again in any of the subsequent dream scenes. Maybe Haas was embarrassed by his own pettiness.

Even as a standalone movie, this film is a poor one. Lisa Bonet's character, Heather, was completely unbelievable. Are we really supposed to accept that a successful and self-assertive lawyer will drive out to a remote location and jump into bed with a psychiatric patient about whom she knows very little and that she will remain there with him for days in the face of his increasingly obsessive behavior - simply because he says he feels he knew her from a previous life? In another scene, we are given hints that George's friend, Manny, may be more than he seems. He appears in each of George's realities, and he seems to recall all of them. Yet Haas does nothing with this. The final scenes are rushed and confusing, leaving the viewer with the sense that Haas simply ended the show in order to fit into the time he had available.

Philip Haas has not made a decent movie since his 1995 "Angels and Insects." This version of "The Lathe of Heaven" continues his streak of losers. If you want to see a good film adaptation of LeGuin's book, buy the 1980 PBS version instead.

Up front, I gotta say that 1) the original was one of my fav SF movies, 2) I have not seen the DVD, but I did attempt to watch this movie on its A&E debut last night (Sept. 8th), and it was so bad I turned it off after the first hour.

This movie fails on many levels. It's horribly slow moving. Deathly dull, in fact. Some of the actors are terribly annoying. Lisa Bonet is fine to look at, but she's one level: a sexy whispered voice at all times, and so carries no authority whatsoever. She doesn't seem smart enough to be a lawyer. She was so badly cast and is such a worthless actress that I wanted to shout at the TV every time she came onscreen. Lukas Haas is okay, as are James Caan and David Straithairn, but the doctor's secretary is annoyingly shrill. Except for the badly cast Lisa Bonet, though, I blame the director whenever good actors are less-than-good in a movie.

Even the music is bad. The composer is a big-name guy who did music for Twin Peaks (among many other fine credits), but his music seemed very out of place. It seemed like the director attempted to inject some life into deadly-dull scenes through the energy of the music, but it seemed mismatched entirely.

My expectations were low, to be honest. Rarely does a re-make do justice, I thought coming into this. But even my low expectations were not met. Oh, the sets and costuming were good, but overall this was a waste of a good SF idea and some decent actors. Don't bother with this one - get the original!