K-Pax, the latest cinematic offering from Iain Softley, features Kevin Spacey as Prot, a self-described alien, and Jeff Bridges as a psychiatrist trying to psychoanalyze him. Set in a Manhattan mental institution, the film follows the K-Paxian's interactions with fellow patients and Bridges' attempts to analyze Prot while simultaneously piecing together his own splintering family life.
What results is Prot's assessment of the flaws of humanity, and a disaster of Bicentennial Man proportions. K-Pax places Kevin Spacey alongside Robin Williams - not only for playing a non-human, but also for sliding into acting almost exclusively in nightmarishly sub-Spielbergian drivel, after making several high-caliber films. Williams at least has a decade long cocaine binge to apologize for. Spacey just seems to be pointlessly blowing his career with one bad line after the next.
While Prot is pointing out the faults of our culture, the psychiatric staff is rapidly attempting to hone its diagnosis before his scheduled departure from Earth. The film concludes with Prot's essay contest to see which patient deserves to go back to K-Pax with him. We decided to compete for this chance as well.
Why you should take me back to K-Pax: an essay by Stefan Marolachakis
I want that one-way ticket you offered, and the ride back to K-Pax with you. I have a few points to persuade you in my favor.
I think I stand apart from all the other applicants. I believe you have seen a certain little film named Dream Team. Surely, it must have been given airtime on K-Pax public television. That Christopher Lloyd character is endearing - the first time. You have to know a carbon copy when you see one, and all these residents at Manhattan Psychiatric Ward are precisely that. I, on the other hand, am the real deal.
Prot, I can tell you're a winner. I mean, you're the kind of guy innovative enough to have been on the creative side of the XFL. The insights you have provided to us earthlings are truly priceless. You've shifted the tide down here, and set the crazies straight. You've been a panacea to us all. All we needed was someone who was patronizing with an alien perspective to let us know the follies of the human race. Most importantly, you've reconnected all of these urban folk to the beauty of nature, reminding us of the beauty that lies in bluebirds and flowers.
Birds and flowers - now why does that sound familiar? You say you've visited Earth before. I wonder if it was sometime during late 1999, because your behavior is very American Beauty. You do well to point out the beauty that lies in the simple things in life - and wow, do we humans sure owe you for it. It makes us all feel so darned good.
To get back to business though, I truly think you should forget about Daniel, my toughest competition in this essay contest. He'll talk your ear off on the trip through the cosmos with rants concerning screen gems such as A.I. and Earth Girls are Easy. I, on the other hand, will be your silent sidekick. I am willing just to sit back and listen. As you shower me with astute observations, I will pretend that I have never heard them before. "Make love, not war, that sounds like a great new idea," I'll tell you.
What a trip we'll have together. We'll leave this primative planet and go. We won't need any script - we'll just improvise. That's what's great about you Prot, you don't even need a good script to operate, you just live on the edge and hilarity ensues. Doesn't it?
Why you should take me back to K-Pax: an essay by Daniel Sheerin
Please take me back to K-Pax with you. Unlike your other followers, I am not a somewhat offensive caricature of a "marginalized" person, but I still long to leave the ills of our society for the tranquility of your fantasy planet. I need to "chill out." On Earth, neo-hippie sloganeering is relegated to bumper stickers and health food ad campaigns - on K-Pax, it is the dominant ideology. Stefan is content to waste his days devouring granola bars and organic yogurt in the local Spencer's Gifts, while I truly realize the implications of your radical philosophy. Leave him with the other skeptics and liberate me from this ungroovy world.
It takes an outsider to reveal the shortcomings of humanity to Earth's inhabitants, Prot. In showing us the importance of "traveling light," you have taught us what several anachronistic Brendan Fraser characters could not. Others have come as saviors, as "Jesus Christs" and "Joan-of-Arcs," but none offered the extraterrestrial escape you promise. You provide an opportunity unique to your alien counterparts. I bribed ALF with a rescue shelter full of cats, but he refused to take me back to Melmac with him.
You have visited every country on this planet and experienced firsthand the close-mindedness of its people. In the world of K-Pax, self-criticism, self-awareness, and even taste are unimportant. Following obvious storylines, recycled characters can deliver cringe-worthy dialogue without disrupting the feel-good vibes. Beings from your planet show no concern about whether those they encounter are genuinely from K-Pax or are just frauds because, ultimately, they don't care.
You have shown me that the individuals deemed "crazy" by society are actually lone beacons of sanity. Granted, hundreds of fictional characters have done the exact same thing, but not while eating so much fruit. You rein King of the mellow quip, my Prince Myshkin in Ray-Bans. Bring me to the planet-wide family that is K-Pax. I cannot stand the "stink" of this uptight Uptown for another day. I'm pretty sure Stefan loves it. Save me from this planet and its bogus ways. Not him.
