Critical Care Starring: James Spader, Helen Mirren, Kyra Sedgwick, Albert Brooks, Jeffrey Wright, Wallace Shawn Directed By: Sidney Lumet Approx Running Time: 103 minutes
After a series of disappointing motion pictures, one of cinema's most brilliant and powerful directors shows us he really hasn't lost a step. Sidney Lumet, who brought us such fantastic films as Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, Network and The Pawnbroker, presents us with a stylish, darkly comic and poignant picture in Critical Care.
James Spader is excellent as Dr. Werner Ernst, a young man in his third year of residency who is seduced and blackmailed by hopeful starlett Felicia Potter (Kyra Sedgwick). Potter, and her half-sister Connie are battling over the fate of their comatose father. One wants him kept alive, one doesn't want to see him continue to suffer. Spader is caught in the middle.
Critical Care points an accusing finger at the medicare system. Who cares? Who doesn't? And is everyone in it for their own selfish reasons? Dr. Ernst is trapped between doing the right thing or continuing with what promises to be a successful career. In this cold hospital environment, no one is really there to help anyone else when they need it. The doctors aren't there for the patients, the administration isn't there for the doctors, and lawsuits surround the administration.
Albert Brooks (completely unrecognizeable in white hair and extremely well done makeup) is fantastic as scatter-brained old Dr. Butz. He spends most of his onscreen time calling Dr. Ernst up to his office to give him advice on patient care, which boils down to dedicating time only to those patients who have extensive insurance coverage, and to hell with the others. He is a symbol of what is wrong with the system, and why things aren't getting any better. Though Brook's Dr. Butz is often redundant in his dialogue, we get the feeling he is supposed to be that way. It is an effective effort to frustrate both the young Dr. Ernst and the viewer. Helen Mirren is good, but understated as a compassionate nurse. Her character never gets to make much of an impact.
Visually, the film is quite impressive. We spend most of the time in sterile, spacestation-looking Intensive Care Unit rooms. The ICU is circular, and the nurse's station is in the middle of it all. The beds are inflatable blue plastic. They look like something you'd want to float on in a pool. The machines are all futuristic and complex. But most striking is the lack of background inside the rooms. There are no walls, just endless white space. But this look in the ICU area is extremely important. It helps ease the transition between realism and surrealism. There are a few dreamlike sequences that show us the fears of certain characters. One patient, played by Jeffry Wright (Basquiat) is visited by an assistant to Satan, played by Wallace Shawn. Angelic Anne Bancroft visits James Spader in a dream sequence, and helps him form his future by suggesting a course of action. Both sets of sequences, though, take place in these other-worldly ICU rooms, so the transition is not jarring, but rather smooth and almost expected.
The production design by Philip Rosenberg certainly is one of the most amazing aspects of Critical Care. Early in the film, there is an impressive shot of Sedgwick and Spader going up an escalator in an intricately structured mall. It suggests equilibrium and and calm. Things at this point in the film are peaceful. But later, as Spader is pleading with a prestigious doctor about his own future, the same camera angle shows us a twisted and cold steel staircase, blocking most of the character. Dr. Ernst is trapped, and no one will help him.
Lumet has really approached new territory with Critical Care. Presenting controversial material is nothing new. He loves to make films about police corruption, and he has touched on racism, and the judicial system before. Here, he tackles ethics and the structure within the medical profession. But Critical Care has an independent feel to it. It is fresh, and modern. Some of the dialogue fits the black comedy mold quite well. Lumet makes all the elements of this film, the acting, the set design, the camera work, and the fantastic script by Steven Schwartz come together beautifully. It is an odd film, no doubt, but also a treat to see a master filmmaker doing great work again. 3 1/2 stars out of 4 Copyright (C) 1997 Nicholas Amado
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