Man Facing Southeast (1987)
Directed by Eliseo Subiela
A new patient mysteriously appears in a psychiatric ward. He claims to come from another planet to study humans and their behavior. The alien is gentle but criticizes humans for their harsh treatment of each other. The assigned psychiatrist is himself unhappy, and affected by the patient's insight. But he is ordered to treat the patient according to institutional procedure.
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What critics compared Man Facing Southeast to
The script, adapted by Charles Leavitt from a novel by Gene Brewer, concerns (as did Eliseo Subiela's 1986 "Man Facing Southeast") a fellow in a psychiatric hospital who claims to be a visitor from another planet (in this case one called K-PAX).
…lauded 1986 Argentinian film "Man Facing Southeast".
The question at the heart of the film -- is Prot really from another planet or is he just a terribly wounded man with a dark secret luring in his past somewhere -- is nothing new, and echoes of previous films which tackled or at least danced with the subject matter are readily apparent (the 1986 Argentine import Man Facing Southeast comes to mind, as does that other man, the one who fell to Earth and looked a lot like David Bowie).
That aside, the film is a thoughtful update of Eliseo Subiela's 1986 film Hombre Mirando Al Sudeste, or Man Facing Southeast, about a mental patient who claims he is from another planet and leads his psychiatrist and most of his fellow patients to believe him.
The film superficially resembles the well-regarded 1987 foreign film "Man Facing Southeast," but its similarities to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "The Fisher King" and "Awakenings" run deeper, though those were all much better movies than this one.
It reminded me most of the 1986 Argentine film by Eliseo Subiela "Man Facing Southeast."