Scriptwriter Neal Jimenez, writing about what he knows, has written a script about a writer (novelist) paralyzed after breaking his neck in a hiking accident. Not for nothing has this been self-designated a No Frills Film Production: the scope of the action is confined to his period in the hospital; nothing before, nothing after. It certainly illuminates its chosen corner of existence, with particular attention to the sexual limitations. But perhaps the brightest source of "light" is the first-person camerawork from the point of view of a patient whose head is held motionless inside a metal "halo." As the protagonist becomes less helpless -- loses his "halo," for a start -- the narrative becomes more conventional: doses of Handicap Humor; melting-pot camaraderie between dissimilar patients with similar ailments; revenge against unfeeling phone operators. Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, William Forsythe, Helen Hunt; co-directed by Jimenez and Michael Steinberg. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.