K-Pax

By EWAN McDONALD

(Herald rating: * * * )

A Manhattan psychiatrist has an unusual patient locked inside his clinic. The patient calls himself Prot and claims that he is from a distant planet called K-Pax. Prot is rather clued up about K-Pax: he knows things about it, and the solar system, that no everyday human could know. More than the scientists who discover it.

Dr Powell the workaholic shrink played by Jeff Bridges, thinks he has the answer: he believes Prot is no alien but an earthling, Robert Porter, who killed an intruder who raped and murdered his wife and child, and that Porter has retreated deep inside himself rather than face the truth.

Powell listens to Prot (Kevin Spacey, above) and at times is almost convinced. Prot may not be deluded. He seems normal — more than that, intelligent — except for his attempts to cure his fellow patients and insisting that his home is 1000 light years down the road.

Is Prot really from another planet? Don't worry, no plot spoiler here, largely because the ending to this touchy-feely drama is deliberately ambiguous and not quite so deliberately confusing. Your reaction will depend on how much you want to suspend or move your perceptions of reality, and how much you enjoy complementary performances from two outstanding actors.

• DVD features: movie (120min); commentary from director Iain Softley; theatrical trailers; making-of feature (11min); Jeff Bridges' Photography, 11/2min feature of Bridges' black and white photographs on set; alternate ending; deleted scenes; storyboard to scene comparisons; production notes and cast bios.

Rental video, DVD: Today