AWAKENINGS celebrates 35 years with a new 4K release

Purchase at MovieZyng.com by clicking the image above

AWAKENINGS captures the spirit of early 1990’s New York filmmaking in a way few films of that moment did. Even though the story takes place in 1969 and 1970, the production feels steeped in the atmosphere of the city in which it was made: the outer boroughs, the institutional buildings, the scuffed linoleum floors, the light falling through aging hospital windows. Penny Marshall shot in real locations throughout Brooklyn and the Bronx, and the authenticity radiates through the film. It evokes a nostalgia for both the era it portrays and the era in which it was created, a specific melancholy New York mood that is quietly overwhelming.

The film remains the only pairing of Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, and that alone makes it historically significant. Williams gives one of the gentlest performances of his career as Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a fictionalized version of neurologist Oliver Sacks. There is no manic energy here. He plays Sayer as shy, awkward, meticulous, and deeply empathetic in a way that feels lived in rather than performed. De Niro, as Leonard Lowe, gives a transformative and astonishing portrayal that ranks among his most delicate pieces of acting. His research and physical precision are legendary, and you see that craft in every movement and hesitation. The performance is remarkable to behold, though there is one moment near the end where his emotional outburst feels slightly forced, a rare disconnect in an otherwise masterful piece of work. The scene does not diminish the achievement but stands out because the rest of the performance is so meticulously calibrated.

The story itself is based on Oliver Sacks' 1973 memoir, which chronicled his attempt to treat survivors of the encephalitis lethargica epidemic. These patients had been frozen in rigid, statue-like states for decades until Sacks administered L-DOPA, then a new drug for Parkinson’s. The film condenses those experiences into a single arc, giving De Niro’s Leonard the weight of many real lives. For a brief moment these patients awaken, return to the world, rediscover music and conversation and sunlight, before the drug’s side effects overwhelm the miracle.

The film’s sense of melancholy comes directly from this truth. It recognizes the sadness in the brevity of these awakenings, the tragedy of consciousness flickering back only to dim again. Yet Penny Marshall does not surrender the film to despair. There is also hope, a quiet, grounded kind of hope that exists in the attention Sayer gives his patients, in the dignity they reclaim, and in the idea that connection still has meaning even when it cannot last.

One of the most impressive qualities of AWAKENINGS is how Marshall casts the surrounding patients and staff. These are not caricatures or medical case studies. They are unique characters that are portrayed with respect and specificity, played by a group of character actors who bring enormous soul to small moments. The ward feels alive, not in a heightened Hollywood way, but in the muted, ordinary way that real institutions often do. The stillness of these rooms, contrasted with the tremors of returning life, becomes one of the film’s most moving textures.

Behind the scenes, Marshall fought to keep the film quiet, observational, and emotionally honest. She encouraged Williams to stay introspective even between takes so the hesitancy and gentleness of Sayer would carry through naturally. De Niro immersed himself in the physical challenges of neurological illness and studied real archival footage to achieve accuracy without imitation. Their collaboration created a deep emotional center that grounds the film even when it reaches for powerful dramatic moments.The film walks a delicate line between drama and melodrama, but Marshall’s quiet touch keeps it firmly, respectfully grounded.

Revisiting AWAKENINGS now, the film feels like an artifact of a particular New York sensibility that has largely disappeared. It unfolds slowly, with patience and humility, capturing the beauty and sadness of human fragility. Yet it is not a tragedy. It is a story about paying attention to one another, about the brief moments when life comes flooding back, and about the hope that even fleeting awakenings matter. It stands as one of Penny Marshall’s finest achievements and remains one of the most compassionate films about illness, resilience, and the complicated miracle of simply being alive.

Sony’s new 4K release, issued for the film’s 35th anniversary, gives AWAKENINGS a presentation worthy of its quiet power. The disc features a full 4K restoration with Dolby Vision and HDR, and the film has never looked better. The image is crisp, stable, and beautifully graded, highlighting the exquisite work of cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček. His soft natural lighting, his gentle contrasts, and his intuitive feel for institutional environments are finally presented with a clarity that honors his intentions.

The Dolby Atmos mix, along with the included English 5.1 and 2-channel surround tracks, adds an enveloping but unobtrusive soundstage that preserves the intimacy of the film while giving the ambient spaces of the hospital more life. Supplements include a making-of featurette, archival interviews with cast and crew, and the original theatrical trailer, making this a strong archival package.

There is an irony worth noting. Ondříček, a Czech cinematographer renowned for his long collaboration with fellow Czech director Milos Forman, shot many of Forman’s films yet not ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, which takes place largely in a psychiatric institution not unlike the one depicted here. In a strange way, AWAKENINGS feels like Ondříček completing a spiritual assignment that bypassed him decades earlier.

And it is only fair to acknowledge how extraordinary the work of Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler was on CUCKOO'S NEST, a film whose visual identity remains iconic. This new 4K of AWAKENINGS now stands beside that lineage as a beautifully preserved example of humanistic, observational cinematography, and it is a release that finally gives Marshall and Ondříček the luminous presentation their work deserves.