Before watching the movie:

When I decided to do a month of sci-fi movies I feel like I should have already seen, I didn’t realize that all of the greats were going to be from the 70s or that they’d be experimental and transgressive to the point that I’d start to feel like maybe I hate movies. I only knew that I had to include this movie that I was aware of from almost the time it was published and came very close to watching several times but always pulled back for some reason. Maybe because I was afraid it was going to be too disturbing, maybe because I had it a little mixed up with One Hour Photo, another Robin Williams drama from about the same time.

Robin Williams was the first actor I decided to search for and watch everything that came up, though I started to question that decision when I saw Jakob The Liar, and I ended up leaving a lot of what already existed at the time unseen. I’ve since closed that gap a little bit, but this one, which should be exactly in my wheelhouse even if it’s not a comedy, since it’s a sci-fi story speculating on the mind and perception, I stayed away from, because I was worried about what secret from his past the character was going to be unsettled by.

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