The Lazarus Child (2004)

A road accident leaves seven-year-old Frankie Heywood gravely injured and deeply comatose, when she is hit by a bus, and her twelve-year-old brother Ben severely depressed and traumatised ... See full summary »

Director:

Graham Theakston

Writer:

Ronald Bass (screenplay)

Stars:

Andy Garcia, Frances O'Connor, Angela Bassett

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Garcia	...	Jack Heywood
Frances O'Connor	...	Alison Heywood
Angela Bassett	...	Dr. Elizabeth Chase
Harry Eden	...	Ben Heywood
Geraldine McEwan	...	Janet
Daniella Byrne	...	Frankie Heywood
Christopher Shyer	...	John Boyd
Julian Christopher	...	Elliot Chase
Jaimz Woolvett	...	Nathan Greenwater
Louis Ferreira	...	Lewis Kern (as Justin Louis)
Gillian Carfra	...	Pam
Stephen McHattie	...	Chief Prosecutor Warner
Robert Joy	...	Senator Willis
Nicholas Gecks	...	Dr. Trevor Stanhope
Ciaran O'Driscoll	...	Colin Winstanley (as Ciaran O'Driscall)

Storyline

A road accident leaves seven-year-old Frankie Heywood gravely injured and deeply comatose, when she is hit by a bus, and her twelve-year-old brother Ben severely depressed and traumatised after he witnessed the event. Their parents, Jack and Alison, have to put aside their fights over their unstable marriage to focus on their damaged children. But as life looks as if it will never improve for the Heywoods, Jack and Alison hear of a controversial medical therapy that could cajole Frankie from her coma. The treatment involves communicating with the comatose patient to coax them back to consciousness and Ben is the key to unlocking Frankie from her sleep. But will the Heywoods risk their son to save their daughter...?

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Plot Keywords:

unconventional medicine | maverick doctor | conventional medicine | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Turn Around
Written by Alan Greene, Malvina Reynolds and Harry Belafonte
Published by EMI Songs Ltd.
©1958 Alan Greene Songs (ASCAP) / Clara Music Publishing Corporation (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Tastefully shot and produced, even though the ending was predictably "all's well that ends well"

I saw Lazurus Child on HBO last week and one week later, I am still impressed enough to write this review about it. At first, I was about to channel-switch as I thought it was another "Hallmark channel" type of feel-good movie when I was game for some mindless action flick. As the movie developed, I was slowly riveted.

The scene that captured me most was when the doctors tried to test if Frankie (the comatose little girl) could breathe on her own without life support. The intensity and anxiety was palpable, although I was unsure of the plot still. I even thought it was some kind of horror movie, because there were the eerie parts when the brother (Harry Eden) visited his sister in the hospital for the first time and his dog stick/staff thing was flung to the floor for no apparent reason or when he kept switching on/off the table lamp and hallucinating that his little sis was sitting in a chair with him in the room. The plot was only clear when Dr. Elizabeth Chase (Angela Bassett) was introduced and what kind of medical research she specialises in.

Acting-wise, Andy Garcia and Frances O'Connor seem to play supporting roles vis-a-vis the young boy in the role as their son. He was the highlight of the movie for me, and in my honest opinion, he's better than Haley Joel Osment. That's saying a lot because I do like the Osment boy too. The only disconcerting part of the movie for me was why Dr. Chase chose to stay behind in the 'room' - it seemed quite out of line for me because I thought she went into hypnosis so that she could bring them out as she knew they didn't know the way out.

Details

Country:

Italy Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'ultima porta

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,764,845

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eagle Pictures, Illusion Entertainment Corporation, Midsummer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1