The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)

Director:

Martin Duffy

Writers:

Robert Cormier (novel)
Jennifer Sarja (writer)

Release Date:

1 January 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They Took His Past. She Gave Him His Future

Plot:

An amnesiac youth tries to piece together his past, but what he discovers may jeopardize his future.

Plot Keywords:

Memory | Twins | Hospital | Patient | Clinic

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Janet Paparazzo	...	Eileen Snow
Elijah Wood	...	Barney Snow
Janeane Garofalo	...	Dr. Harriman / Handyman
George Gore II	...	Billy
Joseph Perrino	...	Mazzo (as Joe Perrino)
Roger Rees	...	Dr. Croft
Oni Faida Lampley	...	Nurse Bascam
Jeffrey Force	...	Allie Roon
Christopher Mark Petrizzo	...	Chris Ronson
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Cassie
Samuel Haft	...	Samuel Ronson
John E. Mack	...	Willy / Orderly
Matthew Cavallary	...	Young Barney Snow
David France	...	Richard Snow
Joan Levy	...	Woman in Suburbs

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements.

Runtime:

USA:95 min | Canada:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Shooting Gallery

Trivia:

In the novel upon which the movie was based, 'Janeane Garofolo''s character, "The Handyman", is in fact a man.

Quotes:

Barney Snow: [writing a note to himself] My name is Barney Snow. I was in a car crash. Red.
[folds the paper and sticks it under a desk lamp, then sighs and removes it]
Barney Snow: Great. I can't even remember my own name, how am I going to remember to look there?

Soundtrack:

SHE CRIES YOUR NAME

Interesting plot with great acting performances.

Being a fan of the three main stars (Garofalo, Wood and Cook) led me to sit down and enjoy the movie which is "The Bumblebee Flies Anyway". Though not a movie I believe would appeal to mass audiences, the brilliant performances by all the actors involved made for a great film. Set in a ward for terminally ill children, the mistake of allowing for caricatured and melodramatic emotions/relationships was thankfully not made once. The basic plot: Barney(Elijah Wood) is a volunteer for an experiment run by Dr. Harriman(Janeane Garofalo) with no memory of his past. Being the only non-terminally ill kid in the clinic, Barney is warned to remain detached, but obviously that does not happen. He develops relationships with several of his fellow patients, and those are what make this a good movie. His romance with Cassie(Rachael Leigh Cook)is especially nice for its subtlety and lack of overt sexuality. Janeane Garofalo does a wonderful job with her role as the doctor who struggles with her own advice of detachment. Any person who claims to be a fan of her's needs to see this movie, for it allows us to see just how truly capable of an actor she is. I take away from this film the following question: is a peron's identity made up of the memories we collect throughout our lifetime or the relationships we make throughout and is life worth living without a sense of that identity?