This adaptation of Le Guin's best book tells the intriguing story of a man whos dreams change reality and a psychiatrist who uses that gift/curse for his own ends.
It's not a slick production, being mainly 2 or 3 people having conversations and some dream sequences that attempt to tell large stories with small special effects, but it's still very effective. The cast is solid, with the dreamer harried and the shrink increasingly monstrous as a man whose belief in his greatness is constantly belied by his actions and statements.
I really like the overarching and philosophical take on grand solutions as well as small things like the way the future contains a benevolent-yet-uncaring bureaucracy.
The biggest issue with the movie is the big end scene. It's not in any way clear what's going on. I first watched this movie with my dad on its original broadcast, and the only reason I understand the scene is because he, having read the book several times (he taught a class in sci-fi literature), knew exactly what was going on. I just watched the movie with my girlfriend, and even though she'd read the book a few months ago she found the scene as perplexing as I had.
It's an unfortunate flaw in what is otherwise a very solid and thoughtful sci-fi flick. Still worth watching.
It's not a slick production, being mainly 2 or 3 people having conversations and some dream sequences that attempt to tell large stories with small special effects, but it's still very effective. The cast is solid, with the dreamer harried and the shrink increasingly monstrous as a man whose belief in his greatness is constantly belied by his actions and statements.
I really like the overarching and philosophical take on grand solutions as well as small things like the way the future contains a benevolent-yet-uncaring bureaucracy.
The biggest issue with the movie is the big end scene. It's not in any way clear what's going on. I first watched this movie with my dad on its original broadcast, and the only reason I understand the scene is because he, having read the book several times (he taught a class in sci-fi literature), knew exactly what was going on. I just watched the movie with my girlfriend, and even though she'd read the book a few months ago she found the scene as perplexing as I had.
It's an unfortunate flaw in what is otherwise a very solid and thoughtful sci-fi flick. Still worth watching.