DVD Review: Neverwas
Filed under: Drama, DVD Reviews
There's this fantastical film made a few years ago called Neverwas that, aptly, almost never was. While it had an all-star cast, the movie never saw the light of day, save a screening at TIFF and some releases outside of North America. After a few years in the never-ether, the film is finally getting an absolutely bare-bones release on DVD. The directorial debut of Joshua Michael Stern, who previously penned a little-known thriller called Skeletons, Neverwas is the next generation of Hook. If you think back to 1991, you might remember when Robin Williams was a grown-up Peter Pan, heading back to Neverland. Although the green-tighted hero was played by an adult, Hook was definitely a clear-cut family film. Neverwas, on the other hand, has its grown-up hero, but it is not the children's film that it seems to be.
Aaron Eckhart plays Zach Riley, an up-and-coming psychiatrist who is adamant to take a job at a mental institution, and convinces the head doctor (William Hurt) to hire him. One of his patients is Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellen), a strange old man who is convinced that Zach is Zachary Small, a children's book hero who will help him save his kingdom of Neverwas. He is partially right -- Zach's father was the book's writer, T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte), and he used his son as the model for the heroic character. Pierson is actually the reason for Zach's interest in the hospital. The writer suffered from depression, and killed himself while Zach was still a boy. Years later, Zach is haunted by his memories of his father, surely amplified by the reminders around him, and the fact that Pierson spent time in the same institution.
Beyond his troubled patients, who also include the angst-ridden Alan Cumming, Zach becomes completely immersed in his past. He visits his mother (Jessica Lange), and also runs into an old friend, Ally (Brittany Murphy), who happens to be a huge fan of the Neverwas series. While Zach's days are spent working, each insomnia-filled night takes him one step further into his unresolved feelings for his father. In the darkness, he pours over pieces of his father's institution file -- an old recording made during Pierson's stay at the institution, and an aged journal. As Zach becomes increasingly obsessed with the past, and with Neverwas, Gabriel's ravings begin to seem real, and Neverwas might actually exist.
On one hand, the film is a dark, adult drama about a man trying to come to terms with the skeletons of his youth. Zach often thinks back to his father's struggles – from drug-filled nights to the discovery of his father's suicide. Intermingled with the turmoil of his patients, there is an on-going, eerie edge to the film. At the same time, however, there's this cheery fantasy feel. You keep expecting Zach to find a real fairy kingdom and once again become Zachary Small, the young hero. Having these dual themes makes the film hard to categorize, and it is no wonder that it was never released. Neverwas is a little too fairytale-hopeful for adult audiences, and darkly adult for children.
Undoubtedly, many parents will pick this disc up, see the hopeful, saccharine faces of Eckhart, Murphy and McKellen, and think this the perfect family film for a Friday night. Yet I'm sure that as the first hour runs by, the kid's will be asleep and the parents will wonder what in the world they're watching. Neverwas isn't a terrible movie, nor is it great. It is a fairly engaging story that suffers from its plot, existing in this limbo between a children's film of hope and an adult film of drama, thereby alienating itself from both audiences.
'Ridgemont High' Inspirations Are Now Protective Parents
You Say 'Twilight,' Taylor Swift Says 'Firelight'
Robert Pattinson Talks 'Breaking Dawn' & 'Unbound Captives'
Gwyneth Paltrow Joins Nicole Kidman in 'The Danish Girl'
Discuss: The Movies That Haunt You
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-05-2007 @ 8:00PM
JoeBreezy said...
I know we all have our own opinions but I watched this movie one day randomly on cable and couldn't stand it. I love sci-fi and fantasy and there were some aspects that I really liked but the movie just wasn't able to create a believable world for me. It just seemed forced and stuck in a over done plot structure.
Reply
7-14-2007 @ 10:56PM
Derek said...
I just watched this on dvd and by the end wasn't sure to think.
You are definitely right that it suffers from a dual-personality complex, but I almost think that it was it's own intention.
Not to give anything away, but many times I found myself believing and hoping for "Neverwas" and near the climax of the film I was completely engrossed myself in it. That aspect mixed with the good acting all around (except for John Hurt, who was barely in it) made for quite an enjoyable intriguing movie experience.
My only drawback was the needless love story intermeshed throughout it, it seemed thrown in to give the film a more fairy-tale"ish" feel.
Thanks for this review though, it made me go out and pick this one up.
Reply
7-18-2007 @ 6:54PM
Ricardo Alcos said...
I came across an amazon.com ad for the dvd release of Neverwas, a flim I'd never heard of, starring Ian McKellen, et al. Looking for some clues @ Rotten Tomatoes, there reviewers soundly panned it in no uncertain terms. Somehow I wasn't satisfied, when I perchance came upon your review. It was a well balanced and levelheaded review. I somehow get the impression that some reviewers just don't like movies, and never go to them just to be entertained. Nor do they seem to appreciate the massive amount of creative energy (not just the amount of money it cost) that goes into one of these movies. I probably won't see Neverwas, but I think I have a pretty good idea why. Thanks for your insight. Good Job.
Reply
8-13-2007 @ 9:59PM
Mr Stubbs said...
This is a deep film, which poses these questions:
1) Can I define my reality by the way I perceive things?
2) If someone chooses to define reality differently than I, as a conscious or subconscious defense mechanism, and their psyche becomes their reality--will destroying their reality, by imposing my own perception of reality, break their mind or free them?
In short: If individuals set up psychological barriers to protect themselves from reality, why must we insist upon tearing these barriers down?
There are many points upon which to ponder. This is allegory at it's finest, not only for what it depicts but for the manner it becomes. The story doesn't progress it un-veils itself into what it always was...
...Which is what it NEVER WAS.
...CASE IN POINT. Nothing, itself, is birthed only when that which exists ceases to be.
--If you don't like allegory, If you don't know how to ponder and wonder, you may simply see this movie as cheap entertainment--but it isn't. This movie is ARTWORK.
Reply
8-11-2007 @ 12:34AM
Michael J. Carroll said...
I agree with most of the view, but I think it deserves amplification. To do so means to reveal more about the movie; although I don't think this will cause any loss -- it is a movie that actually should be seen twice. So, spoiler warning!
====
====
====
====
====
====
====
====
I think the dual nature of the film is necessary to the story. There are two protagonists. Zachary inhabits the world of as-it-really-is, a world in which his father committed suicide, a world in which he the son allows no fantasy at all. The other protagonist, Gabriel, the seeming delusional schizophrenic, inhabits the world of Neverwas, his escape from a childhood of imprisonment and abuse.
For Gabriel Neverwas is the only world there is. To understand Gabriel, the viewer must be sufficiently tempted to believe in Neverwas, we must sufficiently suspend our disbelief enough to hope Neverwas really exists. It is to the movie's credit that it so well succeeds. Unfortunately, as the reviewer commented, this can be problematic for many viewers.
The two paths of this movie are so diametrically opposed that one can hardly hope for a satisfying resolution. But there is one, as truths unfold, as Zachary realizes the importance and power of his father's magical story, of the necessity for a belief in hope, however fantastical, and that sometimes fantasy can be made real. And Gabriel, tormented, lonely, isolated, ultimately shares a moment of reality with Zachary, finding the inner strength to confess that what he needs to survive is to continue believing in his Kingdom of Nevermore. And this (allowing Gabriel his delusion) is for Zachary no more difficult - nor harmful for either - than a parent allowing his or her child to keep his belief in Santa Fe for, perhaps, yet another Christmas ...
For me, this was a very satisfying movie. I just finished it tonight and will want to see it again. Like "Sixth Sense", this is a movie in which the ending illuminates so much that the viewer knows he will find new truth with the second watching.
It is a challenging movie, but for those willing to give it the thoughtfulness it requires it should prove most rewarding.
Reply