Excogitating Genius, With Brandon Brendel

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Directed by Ian Softley

I really liked this movie. It is listed under the sci-fi genre, I think it is more of a psychological mystery. But I guess that it could be considered either, depending on the conclusions that you come to at the end of the movie. Jeff Bridges plays a psychiatrist who is treating a man who calls himself Prot and clams to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. JB tries to find out who this mystery man is and where he really came from, because surely he didn't come from outer space...or did he?

A big part of Jeff Bridges performances is his research. In preparation for this part, he went to different institutions and met with multiple psychiatrists. He even had a doctor on set as a technical adviser. He wanted his performance to be as close to how a real psychiatrist behaves as possible. JB says that a psychiatrist considers themself a detective, investigating what is going on inside of a person's mind and trying to solve the mystery.



Here is a great interview conducted by Charlie Rose. Jeff Bridges talks about his performance in K-PAX and the craft of acting. It's actually a great recap of his career up to this point:
Part 1(46 minutes in):


Part 2:


JB talks K-PAX with Jon Stewart:

Agh! I hate when I see a rating of a movie before I watch it. I saw the incredibly low rating of 4.4/10 on IMDB and feel like I consequently was continuously looking for what I shouldn't have been liking about the movie. All in all, I thought it was a fine movie. Some great performances from some great actors. And some fantastic cinematography from Oscar winner, John Toll. Oh, and based on a play by Sam Shepard. I think I'll definitely have to watch this one again without thinking that I'm not going to like it.

Jeff Bridges has another fine performance. He and Nick Nolte play great together. Their characters eventually almost completely switch places, and I feel like it was rather sudden. I'm not sure what it was that caused the switch. I feel like I missed some important detail. All of a sudden, it was like JB was playing Nolte's character from the beginning of the movie. It reminded me of True West, another Shepard play. Except I understood that one better. But, like I said, I think I'll just have to watch this one again sometime.

I would like to see them together again in something. Maybe in a funny good-cop-bad-cop movie. Maybe I'll write it.

JB talks Simpatico and music with Jon Stewart: