4.1 out of 5: Tonight on Netflix, Robin Williams in a somewhat forgotten but great role opposite Robert De Niro

The story of a young researcher who is trusted by a group of chronically ill people suffering from profound mental disorders, the last survivors of an encephalitis epidemic. He slowly brings them back to life thanks to a new remedy and takes special care of one of them, Leonard Lowe.

A bit caught between his brilliant and iconic composition as Professor Keating in Dead Poets Circle in 1989 and his roles in Spielberg’s Hook, as well as in the – also iconic – Terry Gilliam’s Fisher King in 1991, The Awakening, directed by the late. Penny Marshall, worth a look. And that’s good, it’s in the Netflix catalog, albeit a little too hidden, unfortunately.

Supported by the impeccable Robert De Niro and Penelope Ann Miller, the unforgettable Robin Williams actually portrays the character of none other than the author of the novel from which the film is based, Oliver Sacks, world-renowned for his research. The behavior of individuals with abnormalities in the lobes of the brain. A collection of anecdotal works that he analyzed, making his conclusions accessible to a wider lay community. A leader in his field and sometimes criticized by his colleagues, Sachs died of cancer in 2015 at the age of 82.

Williams delivers a nuanced interpretation of Penny Marshall in the film, once again remembered as proof that she was a great actress, and who would also receive a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama in 1991 for The Building. De Niro will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor.