Lathe of Heaven (2002)

In a near future society, a man claims that his dreams physically change reality. His therapist is confused at first, but soon decides to use him for his own gain.

Director:

Philip Haas

Writers:

Ursula K. Le Guin (novel), Alan Sharp (teleplay)

Stars:

James Caan, Lukas Haas, Lisa Bonet

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Caan	...	Dr. William Haber
Lukas Haas	...	George Orr
Lisa Bonet	...	Heather Lelache
David Strathairn	...	Mannie
Sheila McCarthy	...	Penny
Serge Houde	...	Judge
Suzanne Desautels	...	Lelache's Secretary
Belinda Hum	...	Mrs. Nakumisi
Tetsuro Shigematsu	...	Mr. Nakumisi
Jonathan Higgins	...	Medic
Danny Blanco Hall	...	Security Officer (as Danny Blanco-Hall)
Conrad Pla	...	Search Man #1
Daniel Do	...	Waker / Host
Daniel Pilon	...	President Murtle
Steve Adams	...	Game Show Host

Storyline

In a near future society, a man claims that his dreams physically change reality. His therapist is confused at first, but soon decides to use him for his own gain.

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Plot Keywords:

therapist | dream | utopia quest | psychiatrist | central pontine myelinosis | 

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Taglines:

His dreams control our destiny, but who controls his dreams.

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Flagelo dos Céus

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&E Television Networks,Alliance Atlantis Communications,Baumgarten Merims Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bruce Davison, who played George Orr in the 1980 teleplay, was a co-producer on this movie.

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Connections

Remake of The Lathe of Heaven (1980)

User Reviews

A muddled disappointment

This production had a lot of potential. Ursula LeGuin's novel is a long-time classic, but this opportunity to make a new TV adaptation with name actors failed to produce anything but a muddle. Given that there was already a much-loved TV adaptation from 1980 that followed the original novel almost scene-for-scene, the producers' decision to change the basic plot structure of the novel in this version was a good one in principle, but in practice they managed to destroy any hope of showing the characters' relationships develop. The doctor/patient relationship between James Caan and Lukas Haas is so hostile and unprofessional (with Caan shoving Haas into his chair like a James Bond heavy at one point) that I couldn't even believe that Haas would let himself get hypnotized by this guy. The romance between Haas and Lisa Bonet seems to appear full-fledged out of thin air; the plot attempts to provide some feeble justification for this, but the total lack of sparks between the two actors doesn't give us any clue why Bonet has gone from thinking Haas is a psycho to jumping into bed with him.

There's no rule that says a cinematic adaptation can't take liberties with its source material, but unfortunately, in this case, from the plot to the character development to the dialogue, every aspect of this story was handled much better in the original novel. This movie destroys the dramatic tension of LeGuin's novel by trying to compress too much story into too short a time (with tons of ads) and barely even contains enough exposition to enable viewers to suspend their disbelief.

A major disappointment. At one point, the script cleverly refers to "old time TV shows about parallel realities", but in the end, what could have been a refreshing adaptation of a literary classic (with a good cast) came off like a third-rate episode of "Quantum Leap".