Customer Reviews

Lathe of Heaven

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

The basic story is of a person who has effective dreams. This means tat if he dreams something it can become reality. However the results of trying to direct the dream can be negative. Someone assigned to help him ends up using him.

This animal will not get off the ground. They are taking a premise from the book and using it to launch some cheep time trip program similar to "Time Tunnel" or "Quantum Leap." It is not enough to insult people that are familiar with the book, but to think that viewers would not recognize the plot out of old sci-fi movies is insulting to the general public.

George Orr (Lucas Haas) has a unique deformity when he dreams they come true. Plagued by this feeling that he used his dreams to send someone away whom he loved very much, he tries to commit suicide. The court remands him to a court appointed therapist Dr. Haber (James Caan). When Orr confesses his belief about his dreams and that he tries to stay awake so that the world won't change, Haber diagnoses Orr as suffering from a delusional psychosis stemming from adolescent sexual abuse creating a phobic reaction to the dream process that causes amnesia and personality distortion.

Through the augmenter, a brain wave monitoring device, Haber gives Orr hypnotic suggestions to control his brain patterns during dreams. Haber discovers Orr is telling the truth and manipulates him to change the world the way he wants, including unleashing a plague to bring down the population.

Nurse Penny (Sheila McCarthy), Dr. Haber's secretary, steps in to put a stop to his medalling once and for all.

The Lathe of Heaven is based on the book by Ursulla K. Le Guin. The movie consists of eight dream sequences and after each the world is changed. Other than Haber and Penny people in Orr's life are rearranged into different social positions. This was an extremely intriguing movie that kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how it would all end. For Sci-Fi fans, this is a must see!!!

since I've read the book once more,read it,this isn't really bad.The actors,Caan especially,are.up to the work.The actor playing Orr was flat.Bonet was very good and beautiful(don't hold it against her),but was "unequally yoked"with the Orr presented on this version of the story.I would recommend it,but suggest reading the book,one of the best sf novels of all time.You might enjoy the PBS original more if you've seen this first,like me.The first is far superior.My biggest complaint is that,in tackling a great story,the film settled for too little orr.

Bears no resemblance to Le Guin's terrific novel, or the earlier faithful and excellent adaptation. Those responsible for producing this version should not be allowed to work in television/movies again. What a disgrace!

Read the novel if you haven't.

This update remake of the Ursula LeGuin science fiction classic,
has half way decent performances, but it's hardly as good as the
original, it's been toned down a bit, it does have an ironic twist. Lukas Haas and James Caan are fine as Orr and the doctor.
Lisa Bonet is cute as Heather. Try to check out the original though, which is a better version.

It would be easy to dismiss Le Guin's novel as unfilmable, except for the fact that it has already been done and done well, managing to capture the subtleties of shifting histories and universes without having to rely on adding melodramatic subplots or spelling out blatantly what was handled with style and grace in the text.

All of which is a roundabout way to say that you can't watch this movie without comparing it with either the 1980 film or with the original novel and that this version is extremely disappointing. Nuance is replaced with blatant acting and a heavy handed score, slow discoveries replaced by melodrama and all humanity reduced to the emotions of a soap opera.

While it's obvious that many changes would have to be made in order to turn a fairly cerebral novel into an accessible movie, the changes made to this are extremely disappointing and I couldn't recommend this movie to anyone on any level. Leave it well enough alone and hope you can find either the 1980 movie or, preferably, the original book.

buying this video? What were they thinking? "Hey, let's make about the worst screen adaptation ever of a book!" Well, they succeeded. They must have thought (incorrectly) that no one would ever see the original PBS version. Hah!

Sure, the PBS one is dated, but heck, it's a good enough story to look past the effects. Gads...a "Lathe of Heaven" without aliens? What were they thinking?

This is possibly the worst adaptation of a book I've ever seen. I loved this book, but watching this hatchet job was unbearable. I got about half way through, but 62 minutes into it I couldn't take it anymore. The PBS adaptation was well written and convincingly acted, but looked dated. When I saw this in the video store I rented it with high hopes of a more modern adaptation. What I got was a travesty. This is two in as many days, the recent butchery of Tom Clancy's "Sum of All Fears" also coming out this week. Yet, after seeing this trash, Clancy should be thankful Haas didn't get his book.
This adaptation is also about a man who changes reality with his dreams, but beyond that any semblance to the original story is purely coincidental. The acting is somnambulistic and insipid. The actors deliver their uninspired dialogue with all the passion of a canned sardine, with a screenplay that smells like the aforementioned entombed minnow. Any coherent reason for telling this story has been faithfully purged, leaving an empty carcass of about 100 minutes. Life is too short to waste on this tripe. Do something more intellectual with the time, like clean your fingernails, but avoid this travesty like the plague.

Ms. LeGuin had the unique opportunity to have her novel become the first independent production by PBS. They worked on a shoe-string budget and shot the film in a few days - with unknowns as actors and something that this version of the film lacks: adherence to the book.

I'd give this a NEGATIVE five stars if it were possible because the director Philip Haas has wasted the talents of Lukas Haas, Lisa Bonet and David Strathairn as well as a budget that is clearly far, far in excess of the original film. (The cost of shooting the opulent wood paneled offices with inlay work from heaven -- obviously from some Swiss Bank -- must have exceeded the entire budget of the 1980 movie! )

This is more than a waste of time and money it is insipid! If only the producer and director had expended the money and effort on another of Ms. LeGuin's works -- and stayed on story -- this could have been a rave review. Whatever made these fools attempt a remake of an excellent movie adaptation of an excellent novel is beyond me - and beyond any reason to venture near this DVD. Watch the original and then send the director of this abomination out to do the same so he can find out how the job is done right!

The 1980 film was great. I was extremely dissapointed with the A&E movie. It was a vague dream of the book or the original movie. It did motivate me to buy the original movie on DVD. The only difference with the original is, "A Little Help From My Friends", isn't performed by the Beatles. (Probably copyright reasons) Buy the original, you won't be dissappointed. A&E, what were you thinking???