Awakenings - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Awakenings



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
OK, I hate to say this, but I’ve never seen Awakenings before, and I’m kind of shocked over the fact. It’s not that I missed a good movie from the 90s, but that I missed a Robin Williams movie from the 90s. Back then, I watched everything the man had ever done, and I swore up and down that I had watched just about anything of his that ever got critical acclaim. But looking through my collection notes and seeing the lack of a Blu-ray from my collection, I realized that I somehow had missed watching this one. Well, for its 35th Anniversary, Sony is re-releasing the film in a 4K UHD upgrade via their MOD line instead of giving it a full Sony wide release, so I was finally able to break that streak of missing one of Robin’s well received films during his prime (may the man RIP).

Directed by Penny Marshall (A League of Their Own), Awakenings is one of those indelible '90s films that just captures the zeitgeist of New York during the '90s. Even though it's set in 1969, Awakenings feels like the quintessential New York film that just doesn’t get made anymore. Slow-paced, filled with all of the indelible bits of New York City (including the buildings, the floors, the boroughs, and the Brooklyn accents by the nurses), and full of heart, I’m now absolutely blown away that I never got the chance to see it till now. The story follows a fictionalized “based on a true story” narrative revolving around neurologist Oliver Sacks (Robin Williams), a doctor who frankly has never wanted to deal with patients. After desperately taking a clinical position when no signs of a research position are available, the good Dr. Sacks stumbles upon a unique group of patients in the psych ward. Patients who seem to suffer from a form of catatonic form of dementia that inexplicably seem to respond to a few bits of stimuli. While everyone else in the facility writes off the patients' responses as nothing more than reflex action, Dr. Sacks isn’t convinced.

Digging deeper into the patients' files, he notices that they all share a similar history of having suffered from a deadly disease known as Encephalitis Lethargica, which ravaged the nation briefly in the 1920s. While most people woke up from the diseases, some people just shut down completely and were misdiagnosed afterwards. And now, some 30-40 years later, Dr. Sacks figures out a treatment for it through a Parkinson’s medication known as L-DOPA that seems to counteract the damage done via the disease. Now these people who suffered in catatonic hell for 30+ years have a second chance at life. Testing the drug on a middle-aged gentleman named Leonard (played incredibly well by Robert De Niro), Sacks finds that heavy doses of L-DOPA work like magic. Maybe not perfectly, but well enough that Leonard and the rest of the patients who had the disease are able to come back to light. But like many medications, it’s not long before the side effects start cropping up, and the patients are forced back into their old lives when the efficacy wears off, and the side effects begin to become almost as bad as the cure.

Based on the 1973 memoir by the real Dr. Sacks, Awakenings takes a small piece of Dr. Sack’s life and amplifies it for the big screen. The key to the entire picture is Dr. Sacks and Leonard’s relationship as the two grow and explore this new life. While Dr. Sacks is a man who has lived in solitude his whole life out of desire, Leonard is the polar opposite. A man who was forced into excruciating solitude for over 30 years, and is just now beginning to live after that lifetime of forced imprisonment. As the experiment progresses, the two men feed off of each other, learning to form a strange friendship that may never have happened otherwise. While Dr. Sacks naturally teaches Leonard how to live with his new condition, as well as to come to grips that things won’t work out as they hoped, Leonard also ends up teaching the good doctor one of life’s greatest lessons. That no matter who you are, and what you have, life is precious and worth living with other people. Even if that seems scarier than it is.

Awakenings is a beautiful film that brought me to tears multiple times, and I almost feel embarrassed by not giving it a 5/5 rating, as that is what I initially wanted to give the film. But reality is, the film is VERY good, with a wonderful early 90s aesthetic and vibe that is unmistakable, yet somehow manages to feel like it's JUST on the verge of greatness. Yet somehow just barely slipping on by. I’m not sure if the film is a bit too saccharine at times, or whether it’s just missing something I can’t place my finger on, but the end result is a film that just hovers on the cusp of being amazing. Robin Williams gives one of his better nuanced performances, taming his usual over the top theatrics to morph in to the mousy Dr. Sacks. And Robert De Niro gives one of the better performances of his career. One that got him nominated several times, if I remember correctly. Either way, Awakening is a classic film of the 90s that I feel really should have been included in one of the Columbia Presents box sets rather than shuffled off onto the MOD world. Maybe it’s because we already had some Penny Marshall with A League of Their Own, but still, it would have been a better movie in my personal opinion.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

Sony’s new 4K UHD release is quite stunning, featuring a brand new restoration with Dolby Vision that looks authentic to the early 90s New York style of filmmaking, and very natural looking. Shot with light blues and some pale grays, Awakenings looks stunning in 2160p. Fine details are robust and noticeable, while facial tones and up close office nuances really look clean and natural. Film grain is good-looking without being obtrusive, and doesn’t seem to have had any major DNR done to it. Unlike Sense and Sensibilities, this looks to be a competent encode without any of the compression issues that cropped up in that and Little Women. It’s not perfect, as I noticed a teensy bit of crush during the nighttime hospital moments (such as when the rest of the patients wake up), but this is still a superb-looking disc.









Audio:

Sony’s Atmos track (along with a 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD MA pair of mixes) sounds quite nice, though rather unobtrusive. This is a drama first and foremost, so the sweeping score is probably the most enveloping part of the mix, combined with the rattling and screaming from the inmates during certain portions of the film. Dialog is strong and cleanly replicated in the front of the room, and the surrounds are mostly active with ambient sounds of the institution. Bass is a bit light, but still present in the score, and more reminiscent of the activity we heard in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.







Extras:

• Making-Of Featurette
• Archival Interviews with Cast and Crew
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

I’m saying it again, but I still can’t believe I missed this film for the last 35 years. I honestly don’t even remember hearing much about it over my lifetime, but here I am, kicking myself for not doing so. Sony’s MOD releases are usually good, but never as great as their main releases (most likely two different encoding teams). This is one of the better releases from the MOD squad, with great video and audio, but some rather anemic extras. That being said, this is a VERY solid release all the way around, and well worth picking up if you’re a fan of classic medical dramas, and ESPECIALLY if you love Robin Williams’ more mature roles.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Peter Stormaire, John Heard, Alice Drummond, George Martin
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Written by: Oliver Sacks, Steven Zaillian
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 121 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 9th, 2025

Recommendation: Good Buy