Customer Reviews

Neverwas

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NEVERWAS, a little miracle of a movie written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern, is an allegory, a fairytale, a dissection of the impact of mental illness on parents and children, and story of compassion, believing, and blossoming of character that was created with a sterling ensemble of actors in 2005, failed to find a niche in theatrical distribution, and went straight to DVD - becoming one of those limited release films that is very elusive even in the megavideo stores. The reasons for this relative anonymity are not clear, but film lovers will do well searching out this little gem: the rewards are immediate gratification and long lasting satisfaction.

Narrated by Ian McKellan who plays a major role in the film, the story concerns the return of psychiatrist Zachary Riley/Small (Aaron Eckhart) to an obsolete mental institution named Millhouse, the hospital where his author father T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte) ended his days in suicide, having suffered from bipolar syndrome. Zach wants to discover secrets about his father, why his father's book 'Neverwas' has been so disturbing to Zach, and to offer good medical treatment to those patients living in the obscure hospital run by the kindly but enigmatic Dr. Reed (William Hurt). Zach is buoyant, greets his new job with joy, and works with various patients in group and individual therapy (the group includes well developed characters portrayed by Alan Cumming, Vera Farmiga, and Michael Moriarty, among others) and encounters the apparently mute Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellan), a delusional man who believes Zach has returned to break the curse preventing his return to his imaginary kingdom of Neverwas.

Zach meets a 'grad student botantist'/reporter Ally (Brittany Murphy) who loves Zach's father's book and urges Zach to read the fairytale as a means to assuage Zach's new nightly nightmares and insomnia dealing with images of himself as a child, his father's suicide, and other strange forces. Ally's commitment to Zach's father's book, Zach's breakthrough to Gabriel Finch, together with Zach's re-evaluation of his agoraphobic mother (Jessica Lange) all intertwine to reestablish Zach's discovery of his relationship to a father whose mental illness prevented the close relationship Zach so desperately missed. In a tumbling set of events that incorporate the fairytale of the book Neverwas with the reality of Zach's father's relationship to Gabriel Finch brings the story to a heartwarming, well considered, touching conclusion. Being 'unordinary' is a goal, not a curse.

In addition to the above-mentioned stellar cast, small parts are also created by Bill Bellamy, Ken Roberts, Cynthia Stevenson among others. The cinematography by Michael Grady manages to keep the audience balanced between real and fantasy and the musical score by renowned composer Philip Glass fits the story like a glove. Ian McKellan gives a multifaceted performance of a man whose delusional life is far more real than his life as a mental patient, Aaron Eckhart finesses the transformation of the lost child seeking his roots with great skill, Nick Nolte gives one of his finer interpretations as the disturbed father/author, and Brittany Murphy manages to maintain a much needed lightness to the atmosphere of the mental institution story setting. The impact of the film, while absorbing from the first images, is the ending, a reinforcement of the importance of love and nurturing that too often is relegated to little books for children instead of the manner in which we live our lives. This is a fine film well worth ferreting out from the obscurity to which it so unjustly has been assigned. Grady Harp, October 07

I am a huge movie watcher, and I must say this is one of the best written, directed, acted and filmed movies I've seen in a while. It had me worried as I didn't know how the movie was going until the end. And I think it is a beautiful movie and of course Ian Mckellen is incredible. The one mistake I made was thinking it was a fantasy, and it is not. If you go into this with more of a feel-good dramatic movie that is very cleaver in its filming, you can really appriciate it. Then watch it a second time, after you know the story and see how cleaverly it is written. This is a wonderful movie

This was one of the best films I have ever seen. I, probably like many others began watching this film thinking it was a fantasy children's film, but soon realized it was much more. Having just finished a semester of mental health nursing made this film was even more facinating. It was wonderfully acted, directed and filmed. I thought it was one of Nick Nolte's best performances and I love anything Ian McKellen is in, he's always wonderful. But I think what I really loved about this film was that it touches on innocence, fantasy, reality, the very human elements that many people overlook in their fast-paced busy lives, what lies behind some mental illnesses, and what is labelled (sometimes mistakenly) as mental illness. This story touched on so many elements that I know I have probably missed some. I intend to watch it several more times and fully expect to see stuff that I missed on the first go-around. And, although it has it's sad moments, it has a happy ending. For those folks out there who didn't like the film or were bored...I think they just didn't "get it"...or maybe they didn't want to "get it".

...I decided to give this movie a chance. The most common complaint I read about this movie is that it never sticks to one genre. I must be the odd woman out, because I thought this worked well for Neverwas. If it had only been a movie about mental illness, it would have been too depressing. If it had only been about the fairy tale, it wouldn't have been as meaningful. My advice is to let the movie be what it is. It is a mix of romance, father-son bonding, mental illness, mystery, and fantasy. The always superb Aaron Eckhart carries the movie very well, and he is supported with excellent performances by William Hurt, Brittany Murphy, and Ian McKellan. I am glad that I gave this movie a chance, and I feel that the $5 I paid for it was money well spent.

Why it never was released I can't imagine. Excellent performances by seven major stars; Eckhart and McKellen and exquisite together. Some script flaws and minor embarrassing moments are entirely overlookable in light of the heart and power of the tale. One is never sure where it is taking you; fantasy meets psycho-thriller. I've seen it six-plus times.

A good way to spend a couple of hours (108 minutes to be exact). The cast is definitely a who's who of actors, but thankfully, they don't jump all over each other. I thought the acting was, for the most part, subtle and thoughtful. Ian McKellan was stunning in every scene, but I think you will find a lot of substance in Nick Nolte's performance as well!! The juxtaposition of reality, fiction, and delusion was fascinating and was displayed as well as could be in this medium.

While the movie has some similarities to others, they are small enough not to distract... The story leaves us with some positive ideas about uncomfortable subjects and just maybe stretches our own boundaries of acceptance.

If you like to challenge yourself while being entertained and see some great acting at the same time, I definitely recommend.

All the best,

Jay

I didn't have great expectations for this movie because I expected it to take a really dark turn at some point, but I watched it for Aaron Eckhart. He was as charming as always, but the story is the star of this movie. With the exception of the handling of the romantic subplot, the director managed to create a fairy tale for adults that held a bit of suspense and a lot of good feelings at the end.

I fault the writers for a clumsy and unnecessary twist between the protagonist and his childhood friend turned love interest. The rest of the story was so satisfying, I can't believe they fell back on such a cliché.

Ian McKellen was as good as he's ever been as the King of Neverwas, and that wasn't an easy part to play. That character could easily have been too creepy or scary to engage the audience, but he managed to walk the line just so you wanted him not to get hurt, no matter how out of touch with reality he was. As with any good fairy tale, there are moments of genuine suspense that manage to lead to an end that made me glad that I took the time to check it out.

A movie with a developing plot that unfolds in its own time, Likable characters, a few interesting twists and turns, almost a child's story, but very much adult. Worth a watch.

The purpose of a movie is to entertain and this one did just that. It's a shame that it was not released in theaters because a lot of people won't buy the dvd thinking "if it didn't show on the big screen it must not be to good" but they are sadly mistaken. When I watch a movie, it's the one I am watching and I am not watching it to compare to other movies.Thats not the purpose of any movie. So just watch the movie and enjoy the time and effort that a lot of people put into it to entertain you for a little while. Pay attention to the musical soundtrack,(which I can't find/was it ever released) it is really good.

The story of director Joshua Michael Stern's 2005 film "Neverwas" centers around Zachary Riley/Pierson (Aaron Eckhart), a psychiatrist, who returns home to inadvertently delve into his own troubled past as the son of a legendary children's author of J. R. R. Tolkien stature. Father T.L., creator of the beloved land of Neverwas--a fictitious conglomeration of elements from Tolkien's "Hobbit," Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" and C. S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," commits suicide after a stay in the very hospital in which Zach will practice. Upon meeting inmate Gabriel (the sublime Ian McKellan--knight templar of the mellifluous voice) Zach discovers that the imaginary world that made his father famous, may very well have been the creation of someone else. An interesting premise, I would think--implemented by all the right accoutrements: exquisitely rendered notebooks filled with lovely fantastical drawings that show in stages the supposed conception of the Neverwas universe (think of the intricate schematics the magician Eisenheim uses in film "The Illusionist") and an autumn-hued New England town awash with oodles of nostalgic T.L. ephemera ( a 25th anniversary edition of the book showcased in a bookstore window, father Pierson's introspective author's photo displayed at a local eatery and Brittany Murphy's coveted Neverwas lunchbox converted to a makeshift purse.) Add plenty of psychologically intense moments of revelation supercharged with enough childhood flashbacks that even Sigmund himself would careen into a tailspin. Packed with all the potential of a good mélange of mystery, fantasy and psychology, the film should have been a contiguous epiphany of wondrous wows.

Not so, instead, "Neverwas" builds but never quite manages to sustain the fantastical element it needs to become magical. The concept, albeit a good one, gets bogged down with way too much schmaltz. The over-edited script underutilizes a fine assemblage of actors with chopped hackneyed bits of dialogue that seem put together with the haphazard precision of a hacksaw.

Except for the commanding lyricism of Ian McKellan's voice, most of the actors play over-emphasized caricatures of their most remembered on-screen personae--Nick Nolte wallows yet again as another wasted derelict-here he portrays T.L. Pierson in black and white flashbacks that blare like a 60s strobe light. Jessica Lange, as the writer's wife, shakily plummets towards an emotional basement fueled by booze a la her performance in "Frances." William Hurt, as Dr. Reed, provides a firm yet understated avant-garde stability and calmness as the quiet-last-word authority figure as he does in every film he is in. Brittany Murphy, as Zach's unnecessary love interest, remains the wide-eyed, slightly breathless ingénue with her own agenda as depicted in "8 Mile." Last but not least, Aaron Eckhart, as the protagonist, exemplifies the well-meaning psychiatrist whose telling facial expressions conjure up the hip, eureka-seeking academic as in "Possession."

Looked at as a whole, the sum of the parts does not a symbiotic coalition make. Instead the result runs together at breakneck speed. Pressed on to a harrowing pace by the music of Philip Glass the momentum flutters like a manic faerie brightly highlighting the confused epiphanies of the viewer. The outcome? A rather disjointed muddied Fisher King without the feel-good modern day fairytale conclusion.

Unfortunately, "Neverwas" could have been more than just a minor film that went straight to DVD format. With more scenes, more dialogue, less editing and more focus on the intended audience--the purpose of plot struggles here--is this a whimsical adult fairytale that professes a believe-in-Santa-Claus-in-the-face-of-even-the-starkest-reality like the children we all want to be or is this a psychological drama exploring Zach's (Eckhart) inner angst regarding his father's work, suicide and his own place in his father's life? The senior Pierson's torment although evident warrants further historical exploration. The mere finding of wonderfully illustrated journals and unexplained photographs tantalize but cry out for a more detailed Da Vinci Code treatment.

Again, the only aspect of the film that works on any level includes the visible and audible presence of Ian McKellan. McKellan plays Gabriel, the wannabe believer in all things Neverwas to unchallenged perfection. Grand, yet woebegone, he remains the wizard in which we all wish to have faith. Sadly, this character's true story never really rings true--the clunky script strangles any attempt at relevant illumination.

Bottom line? "Neverwas" probably would make a much better novel than film. Recommended as a potential fixer-upper for a film class.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"