Insomnia

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

This film (2002) is a remake of the movie done in 1997 which was a Norwegian story set inside the Artic Circle. The setting is here is Nightmute, Alaska, which fits the constant daylight experienced by the residents. The opening shot shows someone applying blood to a fabric, presumably to frame an individual. Then there are shots of the white Alaskan environment as Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) rides in a plane over the frozen land with his partner Detective Happy Eckhart (Martin Donovan). His first name will become ironic as the story plays out. As IMDb points out Dormer’s last name in Romance languages implies sleep, which is also ironic here because that is something he will get little of.

They are met by the enthusiastic Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank), a fan of Dormer. (Could her last name refer to the cold exterior?). They meet Chief Nyback (Paul Dooley), an old acquaintance of the visiting detectives. The Chief requested their help although he notes that there is an Internal Affairs investigation going on that may involve Dormer. We quickly realize that there may be a dark side to the protagonist here. Director Christopher Nolan uses doubles in his films to show the negative aspects of his protagonists, such as in the Batman movies, Memento, and The Prestige.

Dormer insists upon seeing the body of seventeen-year-old Kay Connell despite being told all the evidence is in the report. It points to Dormer’s insight and experience. Dormer realizes that the killer took his time to wash the victim’s hair and cut the nails, not applying any makeup. He and Burr conclude the murderer must have known the victim and wanted to erase any traces of her that might connect them. The process was patient and methodical revealing a calculating killer. Dormer observes that the perpetrator “crossed the line and didn’t even blink. You don’t come back from that.” The idea of stepping over the line of legality and morality and the resultant fall from salvation is something that the film addresses.

After examining Kay’s room, Dormer sees that she cut out the picture of her best friend, Tanya (Katharine Isabelle). It is proof that animosity developed between the girls. He also observes gifts that her boyfriend, Randy (Jonathan Jackson) could not afford to give her. Dormer concludes there must be an admirer of some means involved. When Dormer says he wants to visit the school, the local police inform him that it’s ten o’clock at night. It’s the time of year there that has only daylight. Ian Nathan, in Christopher Nolan: The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work. says Nolan liked how the original movie “reversed the poles on film noir.” I assume that means that film noir movies take place mostly in the dark to mirror the dark deeds characters do. Here the light exposes those wrongful actions.

Even though Dormer doesn’t want to discuss his department investigation, Eckhart drops a bomb saying he has cut a deal which means he will testify concerning evidence used in arresting drug dealers. Dormer sees the Internal Affairs action as a means for others to get promotions, indication that selfish, not admirable, behavior is the motive. Dormer leaves upset. This fact makes what happens later question Dormer’s motives.

Dormer presses boyfriend Randy for information and realizes he doesn’t know the mystery person Kay was seeing even after Randy beat her, showing his brutal side. The police find Kay’s backpack which contains a mystery by A. J. Brody. Dormer is trying to discover connections to the victim since he believes it will lead him to her secret admirer who he believes is the killer.

Dormer sets up a trap, saying they are still looking for Kay’s backpack at a certain location. They stake out the area. The scene takes place in a fog on rugged terrain, which is symbolic of mystery and perhaps the inability for Dormer to see what is morally correct. The suspect shows up and wounds a police officer. In pursuit, Dormer fires at a shadowy figure which turns out to be Eckhart. Dormer goes along with the story that it was the suspect who killed Eckhart. Dormer tells the dead detective’s wife about the death, and it is ironic when she tells Dormer not to arrest the person who killed her husband. She doesn’t realize that she is actually telling Dormer to kill himself.

Burr is now investigating Eckhart’s death. Again, ironically, she doesn’t realize that it is Dormer she is after. He hides his gun just as he hides his criminality. The lawful here becomes the unlawful, as morality is turned upside down. Dormer cannot sleep. The brightness of the day will not allow him the luxury of escaping from his deeds into the relaxed darkness of dreams. He thinks he sees Eckhart among other policeman, as if the man is haunting him. Dormer is suffering from guilt, which is a major element in Nolan’s films: the leaving of the family in Interstellar; the drowning death at the beginning of The Prestige; the possibility that Leonard is the cause of the death of his wife in Memento; the torment the main character feels in creating a weapon of mass destruction in Oppenheimer.

Warfield, the IA investigator, calls Dormer at the restaurant where Rachel Clement (Maura Tierney) works. (Does her name imply that she is the opposite of the inclement weather in the area, and can bestow individual clemency?). Dormer is nasty to Warfield, which may rise out of his guilt that his past wrongful actions will surface.

The police found a .38 caliber bullet at the foggy area and Dormer doesn’t let it be known that he also picked up the .38 caliber weapon left by the suspect. He shoots a bullet from the .38 caliber gun into the body of a dead dog and exchanges the casing for the .9 caliber bullet that killed Eckhart. The lack of sleep causes sounds in the police office to appear loud and disturbing. However, it could also mean that his world has become distorted by his upending the moral order in his life. Burr gives him a report to sign to close out Eckhart’s death investigation. Possibly due to a guilty conscience, he doesn’t sign it. He tells Burr to be thorough in her investigation. We may have here the compulsion found in Edgar Allan Poe perpetrators to confess their crimes.

As Burr takes another look at the evidence and finds inconsistencies, Dormer gets a call from the killer, Walter Finch (Robin Williams). He says he saw Dormer shoot Eckart and pick up Finch’s gun. He knows that Dormer is experiencing insomnia, and that he hides his clock to not remind him of how much sleep he is losing. At the end of the conversation he says, “We’re partners in this.” It shows how he is the demonic replacement for Eckhart. Finch may be a manifestation of Dormer’s darker self, his evil double, another element of Poe’s writing appearing here.

By bringing the victim’s best friend, Tanya, to the dump where her body was found and intimidating her by saying he will reveal that she cheated on her best friend with Kay’s boyfriend, Dormer gets Tanya to reveal that Kay’s secret admirer was Brody, the crime novel writer, who is really Finch.  

Finch calls Dormer again, and again, shows how well he knows him by telling Dormer his state of insomnia. He says that no one would believe him if he says that the shooting was an accident because of the scrutiny on Dormer in the IA investigation. Finch says that he’s not who Dormer thinks he is. It is an ironic statement because it suggests that the surface an individual projects is not the reality beneath. That point can be applied to Dormer also. Finch says he is not a murderer, just like Dormer thinks he isn’t. But then Finch raises the question that maybe the shooting of Eckhart wasn’t an accident. Nolan likes to insert enigmatic possibilities in his stories.

Dormer finds out where Finch lives and breaks into his apartment. Dormer sees pictures of Finch so he can now recognize him. Finch left a piece of paper at the top of the door so when he returns and finds it has fallen, he knows someone is there. He runs off and Dormer chases after him across a river filled with floating lumber. Dormer falls in and almost drowns. Does this scene imply that Dormer is unable to reach steady moral ground?

Dormer returns to Finch’s apartment and receives a call from Finch telling him to feel at home by taking a shower and resting there. Maybe he can even feed Finch’s dogs. His words are another indication that Dormer and Finch could be doppelgangers. Finch is intelligent because he says Dormer should know he’s not going to return to his place. And the only way he knows that Finch is the killer is because he told him so (although we know that Tanya’s statements point to him as a person of interest). Finch sets up a meeting between him and Dormer. Dormer plants the .38 caliber gun in Finch’s apartment. Dormer is trying to frame a man for a killing he himself committed.

Burr has been following Dormer’s advice about checking out the little details surrounding a crime. She realizes that the shot that killed Eckhart came from a different location and now she discovers, as did Dormer, that Finch, a local writer, is the author of all the books in Kay’s position, one of which was autographed, which means she knew him. Later Burr finds a newspaper that features the LA investigation. She repeats what Dormer once said, “A good cop can't sleep because he's missing a piece of the puzzle. And a bad cop can't sleep because his conscience won't let him.” More irony here that Dormer’s protégé is on the trail that leads to himself.

Maybe the best scenes in the film occur between Pacino and Williams. Here they meet on the ferry. Dormer tries to diminish what Finch says about them being in the same situation, not meaning to kill their victims. But Finch is persuasive, saying if it comes out that Dormer shot Eckhart, even if he says it was an accident, it meant that all his IA problems disappeared, which would seem suspicious. It would also ruin his legacy of being an effective cop. It might cause many of those he put away to have grounds to be released, if Dormer is shown to be a cop who alters evidence. Finch says when he was young, he was impressed by the police, and that is why he writes about them. He even wanted to be once, he says, but couldn’t pass the tests. All his statements show how similar he and Dormer are. They speak with their faces close to each other, which suggests they are two sides of the same coin. Finch says that they should steer the investigation toward the boyfriend, Randy. Dormer coaches Finch since he will be brought in for questioning because of the signed copy of the book in Kay’s possession. Dormer tells him not to elaborate, and that the investigation will lead to Randy. Dormer, however, does not reveal that he planted the gun at Finch’s place. After he leaves the ferry, Finch reveals that he taped their conversation, insurance that he has the goods on Dormer.

Finch calls Dormer again and the latter asks if Finch still has Kay’s dress. He feeds that line to Finch who now says that is evidence they can plant on Randy. Dormer really wanted to discover if he could find evidence in Finch’s possession to pin the killing on him. Since Dormer says he can steer the investigation he needs more facts about Kay’s death. Finch says he wanted to comfort Kay when she came to him distraught about how Randy hit her and was fooling around with Tanya. But Kay laughed at him when he held her and kissed her. He says that he hit her to stop her from laughing and his humiliation was the force that led to his beating her. Here we see that Finch’s pathology is deeper than that of Dormer’s. His telling Dormer about what happened is like a confession, an attempt to relieve the feeling of guilt. He says he thinks he will be able to sleep now. The theme of insomnia not allowing one to escape guilt is stressed here. It is telling that when Finch gives Dormer the opportunity to unburden, Dormer hangs up. He can’t so readily expel his guilt.

Finch, during his interrogation, diverges from Dormer’s advice, telling how Kay was afraid of Randy, how he abused her. Then he reveals that Kay said Randy had a .38 revolver that he hid in a heating vent, which is where Dormer hid the gun at Finch’s place. Here Finch is communicating that he knows Dormer was trying to manipulate him and the reason Dormer didn’t want Finch to say anything about Randy was because he wanted Finch to be the prime suspect. Dormer then takes over the questioning once he realizes what Finch is doing. He says that Finch gave the young girl gifts, implying Finch was grooming her, like a pedophile. After Dormer goes into a rage, he leaves the room.

Dormer can’t find the gun in the air vent at Randy’s place. It was a ruse by Finch. The police come and find the weapon where Finch relocated it. They then arrest Randy ironically on evidence that Dormer manipulated to prevent himself from being implicated. Now, instead, an innocent person is targeted for something he didn’t do. Dormer has done the opposite of what a cop is supposed to do.

Dormer and Finch meet again, and Finch says that it’s over because he now can go on with his life, scumbag Randy is in jail, and Dormer’s reputation is intact. He gives the tape to Dormer who disposes of it and points his gun at Finch. But Finch reminds him that his outburst at the police headquarters shows he would be a prime suspect in Finch’s death. Dormer then says he will tell the cops about everything. Finch reminds Dormer he destroyed any evidence of the two ever having a previous conversation that implicated Finch.

Finch is very smart and has thought it all out, except that Burr finds more about what happened. She uncovers a .9 mm shell at the site of Eckhart’s death, which undermines the .38 caliber gun being the weapon that killed Eckhart. She notes in some case files involving Dormer that a .9 mm was used. She encounters Dormer who looks wasted due to insomnia. Burr gives him a hug and can feel the .9 mm gun, and since none of the local cops carry that firearm, she is very suspicious.

Back as his hotel room, Rachel asks Dormer why he is moving furniture around to block the window. Even though it is dark in there, he still says it’s bright. Metaphorically he can’t hide his guilt anymore. He now does confess to Rachel about the case under investigation back home. He describes how a pedophile kidnapped, tortured, raped, and finally killed a boy. Dormer says he knew the man was guilty. Tellingly, he says his job is to “assign guilt.” Now he is placing that guilt on himself. The shot at the beginning of the film that showed blood being absorbed onto fabric involved Dormer taking blood from the victim and planting it in the perpetrator’s home. He admits he knew it “would catch up” to him, and mentions the investigation. He says the “end justifies the means.” He doesn’t sound convinced, probably realizing it is a rationalization. He asks Rachel, who he has put in the position of a clergyperson, what she thinks. She says it might be that it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But can he live with his actions? And that is the vital question this film asks.

There is an interesting cut to Burr who holds the .9 mm casing and now she must decide what to do, and can she live with her decision? Dormer picks up his badge and gun and decides to go after Finch, no matter the means or the consequences. Burr promised to meet Finch at his cabin where she does not know he killed Kay. He said he had letters from Kay that told of Randy’s abuse. He has no such letters that he could create in time for this visit. Dormer can’t find any evidence at Finch’s empty apartment so he too heads to the cabin. Burr notices Kay’s dress and Finch knocks her out. What follows is Finch getting the drop on the disoriented Dormer. He disarms him and beats him. Burr shows up and Finch escapes to get more firepower. Burr realizes that Finch is Kay’s killer, and he witnessed Dormer shooting Eckhart. Dormer admits these facts and adds that he just isn’t sure if killing Eckhart was an accident. Dormer sneaks up on Finch and they fight. They eventually exchange gunfire. Both receive fatal wounds. The shot of Finch falling dead and disappearing gradually in the water symbolizes the death of Dormer’s darker self.

As Dormer is dying, Burr is ready to throw away the .9 mm casing saying nobody has to know. He stops her and says, “Don’t lose your way,” as he had, forgetting to abide by the law. He says to just let him “sleep.” He can now have the ultimate escape from his guilt in the comfort of an eternal rest.

The Fisher King

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

This 1991 film from director Terry Gilliam, is a redemption tale. The Fisher King, in Arthurian legend, usually refers to a knight who requires the healing of a physical wound, but which symbolizes the salvation of the soul. This movie shows how the two main characters and the women in their lives are on quests to acquire their individual Holy Grails. The story also addresses the issue of homelessness as it relates to the neglect of the poor in an affluent society.

The film starts with the theme song of shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges, in a terrific performance), which is “Hit the Road Jack.” The song reflects his unsympathetic attitude toward his listeners, but eventually describes how he drops out of show business after feeling responsible for a tragedy. The movie is prescient in depicting how the manipulative power of the media can do harm. The first shot includes a closeup of Jack’s mouth as he speaks into a radio microphone, which emphasizes this theme.

The first person who calls into Jack’s show is a woman who speaks hesitantly and says her husband is driving her crazy finishing her thoughts, which is what Jack sarcastically does. The husband is probably being driven “crazy” by the way the woman speaks, showing how people are at each other's throats because of communication issues. (The movie uses the “crazy” theme to show that irrationality takes on many forms). When the woman says Jack has hit the problem on the head, he says somebody should hit her on the head. So, the form of entertainment he provides is one of degradation. He exploits scandals. But he makes a good observation about the desire in people to achieve notoriety, even if it is an infamous kind. A woman calls in to complain about his comments. Jack points out her hypocrisy when he says she had sex with a senator in the parking lot of Sea World and now wants privacy.

Jack receives a call from Edwin Melnick, who has phoned in before, and now says he saw a woman he was attracted to at an exclusive, upscale spot. He apparently has been lonely for a long time and has tried to meet women. Jack has turned his sad situation into a sideshow, manipulating him into disastrous encounters. Jack, as shock jocks do, attacks everybody, and tells him not to deal with yuppies, who only marry their own kind, causing mental deficiencies due to “inbreeding.” Jack says, “They’re not human.” He calls them evil and says “they must be stopped … It’s us or them.” Edwin says in a quiet voice, “Okay, Jack.” Little does Jack realize what he has set into motion. His sign-off song is “I Got the Power,” which drives home the force inherent in having the big microphone. Jack ends his show talking about having sex with the teenager of his choice, which is not only off-putting, it’s illegal, but implies the rules don’t apply to the very powerful. He finishes his program, akin to the narcissistic bragging of any current day politician, by saying, “Thank God I’m me.”

Off the air, Jack is praised by his agent, Lou Rosen (David Hyde Pierce), in Jack’s limo. Lou says Jack is in demand for a TV job. A beggar knocks on the window of the luxurious car, highlighting the huge discrepancy in the economic situations of the two men. Jack says a couple of bucks won’t make a difference anyway, without thinking that maybe a more equitable allocation of wealth added with compassion might. The scene shows Jack’s pessimism about the human condition.

Back at his condo, Jack, looking in a mirror, stressing his narcissism, says how he hates his cheeks. He is now concerned about his looks because the next day he will be filmed for the first time, and he will be a “voice with a body.” His girlfriend must feel like a confined possession because she says she would like to get out for a change. He bemoans the fact that she doesn’t seem supportive of how important the next day is for him. She tries to cut his ego down to size by saying he’s only doing a sitcom, “not defining pi.” He says he thought his biography should be entitled, “Jack Lucas: The Face Behind the Voice,” but now it will change to “The Face and the Voice,” or just “Jack!” The exclamation point emphasizes his preoccupation with himself.

He dances in his upper story apartment, after going over his lines, and declaring that he’s “got this.” Literally and figuratively on top of the world, Jack then experiences the bomb drop that decimates his life and forces him to confront the repercussions of the reckless use of his power. On the TV he hears his own voice that ignited his listener to violence. Edwin Melnick went to that yuppie bar, an after-work place called “Babbitt’s” (a Sinclair Lewis reference about greed?). He opened fire with a shotgun and killed seven people before shooting himself. Jack looks on horrified as the newscaster says that Melnick was a lonely, invisible man, who went to what was then the social network, the airwaves, “looking for friendship, and finding only pain and tragedy.”

There is a jump forward of three years, and now Jack is sitting at the back of a video store in a rundown part of the city, looking as seedy as the beggar he arrogantly dismissed. He hasn’t changed his negative attitude as he says, “Garbage. People are garbage,” as he reads a tabloid. He will later discover that there are those worth saving among those that people have discarded like trash. It is interesting that although he left one source of media, radio, he latched onto another, video, not quite being able to divorce himself from the entertainment business. Anne (Mercedes Ruehl, winning a supporting actress Oscar for this role) wonders if he’ll do any work, as she sees him reach for some booze, calling it sarcastically his “Breakfast of Champions.” But, he does not want to work because he is resistant to come into contact with others, possibly afraid of social interaction based on his past. Camera shots show people through Jack’s perspective, as faces look distorted, showing how he sees everyone as grotesque. Anne says she loves him, but he is in one of his “emotional abyss” moods, and when he says he hates desperate people, she corrects him by saying he hates people in general. His devaluing of individuals may be a defense mechanism to lessen the impact of his having hurt others.

As they watch a TV show and Anne laughs, he looks grim, and says it’s not funny. He says he watches it to show him how unfunny it is, because he says that the country has no appreciation of quality, and that makes him feel good that he never was in a sitcom. If he was famous because of starring in one, it would mean that he was “not really talented,” which would be a huge blow to someone who is so self-involved. It turns out that the show is the one he was supposed to star in, and he is rationalizing his fall from fame, trying to not feel the pain of that loss. He is still selfish, continuing to only be concerned about his own situation. Anne correctly calls him “sick,” and “self-absorbed.” He hasn’t made any attempts at trying to fix the devastating effects of the shooting on him.

Jack wanders off drunk in the rain. He sees a rich guy with his son as the man is accosted by a beggar, just as Jack once was. The boy gives Jack a Pinocchio doll. Does this gift signify that Jack is lying to himself? Does he have to gain some insight to get out of his self-imposed exile? Jack talks to the doll about how Nietzsche said there are those who are destined for greatness, like, Jack says, Walt Disney (which connects to the doll), and Adolf Hitler (the Nazis appropriated their view of Nietzsche’s works to advance their movement). Both men dealt to a degree in escape from reality, although for benign and evil reasons. The rest of us are what Nietzsche described as “the bungled and the botched.” He says that the majority of people are “the expendable masses,” who “get pushed in front of trains, take poison aspirin, get gunned down in Dairy Queens.” The “gunned down” reference connects to the restaurant massacre, and he seems to now be identifying himself with those who are “teased” into thinking they can be great, but can’t achieve greatness. He asks the Pinocchio doll if he ever feels as if “you’re being punished for your sins?” Of course, Pinocchio was, for his lies and, for quite a while, being denied the chance of becoming a real boy. In a way, Jack is incomplete as a human being, too, and has been psychologically punished for his sins. But he is just bemoaning his experience, not learning from it.

Jack, not being able to deal with his failure and guilt, straps concrete to his feet, goes to city’s river edge, and is ready to drown himself. Local vigilante types drive up to the garbage-strewn area and consider Jack to be part of the vagrant population that has befouled their city. They ironically associate Jack with the same element of society he turned his back on. They pour gasoline on him and are ready to burn him like trash, like one of the garbage people Jack railed against. Parry (Robin Williams, in an Oscar-nominated performance) shows up appearing like a comic version of Don Quixote. (His name sounds like a fencing term, which means to deflect a blow, and could refer to his adopting his knighthood persona as a mental defense mechanism. Also, as IMDb points out, his name can refer to the knight Percival who sought the Holy Grail, or Parsifal, the fool, who brought redemption to the Fisher King, Amfortas, just as Parry helps save Jack). Parry is a street person who comically uses a trash can cover for a shield. He is accompanied by other vagrants, one of whom holds a lug wrench which looks like a cross, adding a religious crusader element to their actions. They begin to sing “I like New York in June/How about you?” It is an ironic song given their predicament, but they are positive-sounding lyrics to help deal with their fate. Here, Jack encounters a man who has also been harmed by life, and Parry, too, has been exiled from the world, but into a realm of fantasy to escape his pain. Parry says there are “three things in this world that you need: Respect for all kinds of life; a nice bowel movement on a regular basis; and a navy blazer.” It sounds silly, but he is just saying that people must care about others first, and then the individual just requires warmth and a decent diet. The lesson is that striving after other things amounts to seeking excesses. Parry is able to sling a ball at one of the attackers, knocking him down. He ties up the man with tape as the other runs off. Parry has rescued Jack from physical harm from himself and others, and later eventually aids in saving him psychologically. Jack says he needs a drink and Perry says humorously that he knows a place with great ambiance.

They go to an outside refuge for street people. Many of those gathered there seem mentally disabled, left to survive on their own. There is a fire burning, looking a bit like a surrealist inferno. The sleeve of Jack’s coat catches fire and he waves it with such force that the flames die out. The response of the area’s denizens is to applaud, like it was theater, so absurd is life to them. They force alcohol on Jack and he passes out, awakening in Parry’s underground “domicile,” a building boiler room (a reference to hell, as are the many inclusions of fire, suggesting the two characters are in a version of Hades). Parry wants to give Jack some food, saying his guest’s stomach must be like a “tabula rasa,” which shows Parry is an intelligent, witty fellow. Parry has auditory hallucinations, engaging in conversations with imaginary “little people” who he says sent him to Jack. He tells them he knows “He’s the one,” referring to Jack, which in knighthood terms, means his “champion,” the one to help Parry. Parry holds up a self-fashioned sword (made from metal from a Ford vehicle, showing how discards can be transformed into something more significant) and declares himself a “knight” on a special quest. He says he and the little people serve God and Parry is the lord’s “janitor,” a sort of refuse superhero acting as an agent of the deity.

Parry says the little people told him to look at a specific issue of an architecture magazine. In a picture there is a trophy, which Parry says is the Holy Grail, “God’s symbol of divine grace,” sitting on a bookshelf. The Holy Grail quest can represent a desire to return to nobility, purity, and salvation. Doubting Jack, who thinks Parry is a benign psychotic, questions Parry’s belief, saying, “Some billionaire has the Holy Grail in his library on Fifth Avenue.” Parry carries forward the joke by saying who would think one would find anything “divine on the Upper East Side,” of New York, since the modern world is in such a state of decline. He tells Jack he can’t get the Grail himself because “he’s” out there. Parry is referring to the Red Knight, an imaginary adversary, which represents the horror from Parry’s trauma blocking his quest for salvation. (IMDb notes that in medieval mythology Parsifal battled the Red Knight, which, like in this story, is a psychological projection of the questing knight). Jack has to leave, and Parry says he shouldn’t be a stranger and they can get together and “rummage,” which sounds like an odd activity for two people to share. But, symbolically, that is exactly what these two men must do, dig into their psyches to unearth their respective happier selves.

On his way out of the boiler room, Jack encounters the apartment superintendent (Al Fann) who says he allows Parry to stay there out of compassion for his tragedy. We find out that fate has brought Jack and Parry together, because Parry’s wife was killed in the yuppie club by Melnick, the man who Jack had spoken to on the radio. Back at the video store, Anne shows her concern for Jack. He doesn’t tell her about his possible suicide attempt. She tells him that she loves him, realizing he doesn't yet have the capacity to say it back, adding “although it wouldn’t break your jaw to try.” He is thinking about Parry now, his guilt magnified by coming into contact with someone who suffered from his actions. He asks Anne if she knows what the Holy Grail is, and she says it was “Jesus’s juice glass.” When asked if she believes in God, she says yes, she was brought up a Catholic, but believes man was made in the devil’s image because “most of the shit that happens comes from man.” She feels women came from God, because God creates, as do women by giving birth to babies. Women are attracted more to the devil, the bad boy, because saints are boring. Which may explain why she is with Jack. She says that the purpose of life is for men and women to get married so the devil and God can get together and work things out. Anne may seem common, but her insight here hits the mark because both Jack and Parry must participate in battles between their inner angels and demons.

Jack returns to Parry’s basement dwelling and encounters the superintendent again, who tells Jack that Parry was in a mental hospital at one point. Parry’s real name is Henry Sagan, and he taught medieval history at Hunter College (which explains his fixation on the Grail story). He didn’t speak for a year, and then invented his Parry persona. Jack looks at a document that has “The Fisher King” written on it, noting the essay deals with a “mythic journey” which is what Parry feels he must undertake. Parry and his wife lived in that building, and the manager let him stay in the basement after getting out of the mental facility. Jack looks at a picture of Parry’s wife as the manager tells him how Parry was very much in love with her.

Back at Anne’s place, Jack looks at the newspaper clippings that contain headlines about Jack’s radio program and the slayings. He says to her that he is cursed, being brought into contact with a man who was damaged by the shootings. He seems to be searching for a way to “just pay the fine and go home.” He still is self-centered, because his primary concern is to end his torment, but the fact that he has guilty feelings is a sign that he can be redeemed.

Jack goes looking for Parry. When he finds him, Parry brings Jack along as he follows a woman, Lydia Sinclair (Amanda Plummer), who is very awkward, bumping into a person, and knocking over paperback books at an outside stand. (IMDb notes that in Holy Grail legend, the Sinclair clan is mentioned, which thus ties Lydia to Parry’s salvation). Parry, although attracted to Lydia, says of her fiction reading, “She’s into trash, but what are you going to do?” This line is funny, but ironically foreshadows that she may be able to care for someone like Parry who lives among the city’s trash. He knows she eats dumplings on Wednesdays, and they see her dropping them in her lap. (Parry presses himself against the restaurant's window to observe Lydia, upsetting upscale-looking customers, which stresses the differences between the have and have-nots). Parry may like Lydia because she is, like him, an outsider. Jack gives Parry some money, a sort of easy way out of making amends. Parry sees it as a generous act, but it’s not what he wants or needs. He gives the money to another street person, which upsets Jack, but which again shows Parry’s caring nature.

Parry takes Jack to the billionaire’s house, which looks, appropriately, like a medieval castle, and where Parry believes the Holy Grail now resides. Jack tells him there is no Holy Grail, but Parry says the Crusades were not just a papal publicity stunt. Jack warns him it will be dangerous for Parry to try to break into the house. He keeps calling Parry derogatory names, such as “moron,” but Parry only sees the good in Jack, thrilled that he wants to protect Parry. He says to Jack, “You’re a real human being. You’re a friend,” which is exactly the opposite of what Jack feels about himself, since he labels himself “scum.” Parry is offering healing words for the damaged Jack.

Jack tells Parry that there are no little people, and starts to tell him that he is making up his story, and used to teach at Hunter College. Parry is not ready to have his protective delusion stripped from him, and he shouts and writhes on the ground. He has a vision of the fire-exuding Red Knight because he is the symbol of his trauma, his hell, that keeps him from facing reality. But, Parry sees the Red Knight turn around and retreat, so Parry feels that the creature is afraid of Jack, who Parry has charged with helping him fight what frightens him. Parry runs off supposedly after the Red Knight. Jack follows him, showing how he does care about Parry. When he catches up to him in Central Park up on a rock, Parry tells him about the Red Knight. Jack, ready to call it quits, looks up to the sky and says that he wants to let it be known he gave Parry some money. He appears to be talking to God. Parry has a quizzical look on his face. He is the man who talks to imaginary little people, but asks Jack who is he talking to, which in an irreverent way, lumps belief in God with the delusions of the mentally ill.

There is screaming by a man that interrupts their discussion. He has been knocked over by affluent types (again class disparity is stressed) riding horses. Jack wants to let it go, but Parry, again modeling decency for Jack, says Mother Teresa has retired, so they have to pitch in. The man (Michael Jeter), in response to Jack’s leaning toward leaving, says don’t worry, he’ll be fine bleeding in horse excrement, adding “How very Gandhi-esque of you.” He is able to be funny despite his circumstances. They take him to a hospital emergency room crammed with the casualties of society, where Parry tries to fight the misery of the wounded and demented by singing. (The shot of Jack holding the man reminds one of the Pieta by Michelangelo, with Jack the unlikely nurturing figure he must become). The man they rescued says he was a cabaret singer, (another instance of the need for harmony symbolized by referencing music) but has fallen on hard times since all of his friends have died, which probably refers to the AIDS epidemic. His story points to more evidence of the neglect the nation had towards marginal groups in America during the early HIV era.

Jack, still sticking with Parry, hoping to pay his “fine,” waits with him for Lydia in crowded Grand Central Station, where the homeless are shoved to the sides of the building as the rest of the citizens rush past them, literally and figuratively leaving them behind. The commuters are doing what Jack is trying to do, drop some money in the cups of beggars to dispel their societal guilt. When a coin misses the cup of a war veteran in a wheelchair, Jack says the donor didn’t even look at the man. The veteran says, “He’s paying so he don’t have to look.” By donating a little money, the passerby purchases an exemption from having to face the inequities in society that might cause him to feel he must do something about them. The veteran says that he is like a “traffic light,” because someone at work will think twice about defying his condescending boss when he realizes his life is better than the crippled bum on the street. The thrust here is that the penalty for not compromising oneself in the capitalist game is severe.

Parry sees Lydia in the train station crowd and she is preceded by several nuns (hinting at her saving powers?). She passes by him and then, in Parry’s mind, all of the people begin to dance a waltz, showing how, to him, she has magical powers to bring people together. The usually clumsy Lydia glides effortlessly through the crowd. For Parry and the injured cabaret singer in the park, music symbolizes the need to bring everyone together to remedy a discordant world. The harmony is transient, as the clock strikes five pm, and the spell is broken, like midnight in the Cinderella tale, and there is noisy, frenetic movement again. Meanwhile, in a scene that is in counterpoint to Parry’s romantic daydream, Annie sits alone at a dinner table waiting for Jack. She complains to an empty chair, which is supposed to contain Jack, about how she has had it with his lack of being there for her. (There are several times in the film where people speak to no one, showing the need to connect to others).

It’s nighttime, and Jack and Parry are back in Central Park. Jack is worried that they can get killed there at night. Parry, in contrast, is free from fear, and gets naked, looks at the night spy, and hopes to bust up clouds by staring at them. Parry again appears liberated and Jack is full of negativity. Jack starts to leave in frustration, venting into the air about Parry’s behavior. Parry asks him again who is he talking to, as the line between being crazy and sane is blurred. Jack submits to lying down, but stays clothed. However, he still goes to the dark side by hypothesizing about how they both will be murdered, and the press will note he was next to a naked guy, which will increase the sales of his biography since the media loves sleazy situations (another example of Jack’s self-absorption). Parry notes Jack’s pessimism, with a bit of an understatement, when he says, “you don’t seem like a happy camper.”

Parry then relates his version of the Fisher King story. He says it starts with the King as a boy in the forest to spend a night alone to prove his courage that would make him fit to be a regent. He gets a vision of the Holy Grail surrounded by fire, the “symbol of God’s divine grace.” He hears a voice that tells him, “You shall be keeper of the Grail so that it may heal the hearts of men.” Unfortunately, the boy was “blinded” by thinking about a life “filled with power and glory and beauty.” He feels “invincible,” like a god, and reaches into the fire (there it is again) that houses the Grail. The Grail then vanishes, and he is burned by the fire. As he became older, the wound grew deeper. Life for him lost its “reason,” and he has no faith in anyone, even himself. He couldn’t experience love. “He began to die.” A fool wanders in, not realizing he was speaking to a king, and asks what does the man want. The king says he needs some water. The fool takes a cup, fills it with water, and the king drinks. The king finds that it heals his wound, and realizes the cup he holds is the Holy Grail. He asks the fool how did he find it, and the fool says he does not know. He only knew that the King was thirsty. The story could relate to Jack, since he was arrogant and only sought worldly gain for himself, and Parry could be considered the “fool” who saves him. But, in the movie, the good deed must be reciprocated, and Jack must also help Parry. The story points to the healing power of compassion.

Parry says he heard the Fisher King story at a lecture once, and he starts to say it was at Hunter College. Just as he about to have a breakthrough to reality, he imagines seeing the Red Knight again, spouting that hellfire, which scares him back into the protection of his mental fortress. Jack diverts him by asking why he hasn’t asked Lydia for a date. Parry says he hasn’t earned the right, which fits in with the knightly code of chivalry he has adopted. Jack says that she can help him get the Grail because the love of a woman “keeps you going, gives you strength, and makes you feel like you can do anything.” Parry asks Jack is that what his girlfriend does for him, and Jack says “sure.” Parry can see Jack is not sincere in his expressed happiness, so he recalls the Pinocchio doll that Jack gave him, by pretending to show a growing a long nose, implying that Jack is lying. But, Jack here at least acknowledges the possibility of the power of love.

Jack tells Anne that if he gets Parry and Lydia together things might turn out better for him. Jack has upped his quest for redemption by exchanging his money offer for an attempt at matchmaking. He tries to lure Lydia to the video store by calling her and saying she has won free rentals, even though she tells him she does not have a tape player. She hangs up, so Jack sends the cabaret singer from the park to deliver a singing telegram that she should claim her prize. His thick mustache makes him look like one unattractive drag queen as he loudly sings his song, doing a hilarious Ethel Merman turn, at the office where Lydia works. We again have music as the agent used to bring people together.

Jack has Parry pretend he works at the video store. Lydia is definitely kooky as she is overly critical that she only gets ten free rentals and then knocks over lots of tapes. Parry tries to help her, but she only wants Ethel Merman musicals (which shows she, too, secretly seeks to find a romantic dance partner. The love of music is the key - pun intended - that the outsiders share to connect them with others). Lydia likes Anne’s nails, and Jack gets her to promise to do Lydia’s nails that evening so that there is a chance for her to get close to Parry.

While Parry has some food at Anne’s place, he says that a man would be “crazy” not to want to settle down with her. (He, the supposed insane person, comments on the irrational acts of others). Anne’s response is that “most men are,” which refers to Jack and other males. Anne greets Lydia who walks around the apartment looking ill at ease, touching things, not able to be still. She just seems out of place in a social situation. As Anne does Lydia’s nails, she asks if she is seeing anyone, and Lydia says, “Does it look like I am seeing anyone?” Her response is almost hostile, implying it’s obvious that she isn’t involved, which reveals her lack of self-worth. While Anne prepares Lydia for the “date,” Jack is cleaning up Parry, putting on him some of his own clothes, which he comically shortens by using staples. Parry asks about Jack’s feelings toward Anne, so in a way he is reciprocating Jack’s efforts by urging him toward a committed relationship with Anne. Lydia says to Anne that some people are just meant to be alone, which can be a rationalization that justifies an isolationist lifestyle. She says she doesn’t know how to have a conversation, but Anne, helping her gain confidence, argues that is what they are having.

On the double date, we find out that Lydia works at a romance novel publisher, which explains why she checks those types of books out. She calls them trashy, as did Parry earlier, but now he says that “there’s nothing trashy about romance.” He says that in romance there is passion, imagination, and beauty. And he says that one finds some “wonderful things in the trash,” which he should know about as he has gone through a great deal of refuse. He holds up a tiny chair he made from a soda cap and bobby pins, illustrating how artists take from the everyday and turn the stuff of life into art. Jack earlier said that people are “garbage,” as if they should be discarded, and then he finds Parry whose life Jack  has trashed and who he discovers is worth salvaging.

They have dinner at a Chinese restaurant, since Lydia loves dumplings. Of course Lydia drops the food, and also spills water, coughs on the plates, and belches. Parry grabs a dumpling with his hand, and also drops stuff, some of which he appears to be doing to mimic Lydia’s actions, to make her feel more accepted. The two even play with the food. Anne whispers that the two social misfits are “made for each other. It’s scary, but true.” Parry sings the song that Groucho Marx originated about “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” and the reference to the absurdist humor of the Marx Brothers fits in well with these misfits. As Parry sings, Jack acts more affectionately toward Anne, which maybe shows that helping Parry indeed is also having a positive effect on Jack. Again, music is the positive force that joins people in harmony, as we see the camera pull back and others in the restaurant listen to Parry, becoming part of the musical moment.

The two couples pair off. Jack and Anne are hysterical, laughing at the way the other two played hockey with their food. Anne surprises Jack by quoting the Latin phrase that translates to “love conquers all.” She quickly qualifies it by saying that it doesn’t apply to them. She says that she is very proud of him because he did something good for another person. Jack is complimentary for a change as he tells her that she was “great” and says that he is grateful for her help. They kiss, laugh, and go up to the apartment.

Lydia is so down on relationships that she states unfortunately what many women have experienced. She predicts that Parry, after walking her home, will come up to her apartment, they will get comfortable, he will sleep over, but then will be distant in the morning. They will exchange phone numbers, but he will never call. She will initially be elated but then will feel like dirt. She says why should she put herself through all of this anguish, and runs off. Parry goes after her and says he had no intention of going to her place because he wants something longer lasting than one night. He confesses that he grew fond of her by observing her daily routines, which shows he is willing to put in the time to have a lasting relationship. She sees that he is not just looking for a one-night stand and gives him a kiss.

But the thought of actually being in love again triggers memories of how he lost his last love. The Red Knight appears, the specter that tries to scare him away from any attempt at facing the horror of his past and reintegrating Parry with his real identity, Henry Sagan, so he can move forward. There are bloody images of his wife being killed (the red of the blood is mirrored in the color of the Red Knight), and Parry runs through the streets, fleeing from the memory of that terrible night. His mental illness is depicted in an image of the arms of the oversized borrowed jacket flapping around him, resembling a straitjacket. He flees to the same spot where he met Jack. The vigilantes show up with the shadow of the Red Knight behind them. As one whips out a knifes, Parry substitutes the Red Knight slashing at him with his sword. The men beat him, and Parry offers no resistance as he wants to die rather than relive the horror of the massacre.

Jack feels that he has been released from his guilt based on what he has done for Parry. He calls his agent, who says that Jack can get back into radio if that’s what he wants. Anne is thrilled that he will be working again, and thinks that they can look for a better place to live together. But Jack still hasn’t learned the lesson of true altruism. He still views life as a way to benefit himself. He saw his time with Anne as just a halfway house experience, a temporary place for him to crash, literally and figuratively. He used her and now wants to be on his own to concentrate on his career again, “now that everything’s taken care of,” except for Anne’s feelings. She loves him and is devastated.

Jack then gets a call from the hospital because he gave Parry his wallet to pay for the dinner. Although Parry was beaten, the real problem is that he has fallen back into his catatonic state. The doctor says he will be transferred to the mental institution after the hospital discharges him. Jack does try to make an effort to say he is family, but the doctor says that might allow Parry to be discharged to him, but Jack would not be equipped to care for him. Anne says that Lydia found her prince and now he’s fallen into a coma. It’s sort of a gender reversal of the “Sleeping Beauty” story. She says with bitterness, “some women have no luck,” which includes her. She walks away and Jack says, “I’ll call you,” the phrase that Lydia notes men say when they have no intention of getting in touch.

Jack is back in his arrogant capitalistic saddle, doing a radio show, and he is negotiating other projects, as we wear his theme song, “I Got the Power,” showing how music can also expose the egoism that separates instead of joining people. After exiting a limo, the cabaret singer from the park recognizes Jack and calls out to him, a kind of reminder of how Jack has discarded those that helped him during his tough time. A TV executive (John de Lancie) pitches Jack a tasteless “comedy” about the homeless that will not be depressing, he says, but funny and upbeat. It will have “wacky and wise’ homeless people who are “happy” because “they love the freedom, the adventure” of their situation. So, the thrust here is to cash in on those who are destitute, and make it look okay to exploit them by falsely showing how much they actually have going for them. Jack has seen the homeless, and he knows that they are not happy people. He is so upset about the project that he runs out of the office.

Jack goes to Parry’s boiler room abode and looks at Parry’s book about the Holy Grail. He picks up the Pinocchio doll and brings it to the mental hospital where Parry is a patient. Lydia is there, but doesn’t see Jack, as she talks to an attendant about items she has brought, indicating that she has been a regular visitor to see Parry. Jack places the doll on the bed near the catatonic Parry. Jack argues with himself even though he appears to be talking to the unresponsive Parry (another example of someone not able to converse with another, but here, it’s like a soliloquy, as Jack tries to deal with his internal conflicts). Jack says things have been great, he’s getting a cable show, and has a gorgeous girlfriend. He says he’s not going to do it, he’s not “God” and can’t magically fix things. He is, of course, talking about getting the cup that Parry thought is the Holy Grail. He tries to convince himself that many people have problems but still survive, and it’s easier for Parry to just sit there, in “his comfortable little coma.” But, if he wants to know what hard is, Jack says, “Try being me.” Despite his regained success, it feels empty to him now that he has seen the suffering of others that he helped bring about. He admits to feeling like he has “nothing,’ because what he does have is all superficial. He finally has his epiphany. He says if he does get the cup he’ll not be doing it because he “felt cursed or guilty or responsible.” Those are selfish motives. He says if he does it, “it’s because I want to do this for you.” The unselfish act is the one that is truly a worthy one.

The next image is the castle-like home of the rich person, the one, in a Robin Hood-like act, who must have his treasure taken to help the less fortunate. Jack is wearing Parry’s coat and hat as he participates in the knightly scaling of the fortress. He confronts a stained glass window that resembles the Red Knight, as we hear the horse winnowing, showing how Jack’s life is, to use the musical metaphor, now in sync with that of Parry’s. He even comments that he hears the horse, showing how he is sharing Parry’s hallucination. As he grabs the cup, he notices that the old man who owns the place appears to have taken some pills and may have fallen into a stupor or even has died. Does the man who held the power have to sleep in order for the victim of society to awake?  Jack goes to the mental ward and puts the cup in Parry’s hands, and eventually falls asleep at the foot of the bed. Parry’s hands start to move, stroking the cup. He opens his eyes, and Jack, who has his head turned away from Parry, also has his eyes open. They have become awake both spiritually as well as physically. Parry says he had a dream about being married to a beautiful woman, and asks, “Can I miss her now?”  So his unconscious, repressed past, is now breaking through to his conscious state, and he is ready to now deal with his loss. He thanks Jack for making it possible.

The next day, Lydia visits the mental hospital and is astonished to find Parry’s bed empty. He has been resurrected and he is leading the other patients, in what else, a song, spreading his melodic happiness to others. He and Lydia embrace, and Jack takes his place, leading the group, showing how they all are joined by the music and lyrics. Parry and Lydia’s love is contagious, and Jack realizes he truly loves Anne, now knowing that standing by someone when they are suffering is the real expression of love. After he tells her that he loves her, she smacks him for putting her through it. But then they passionately kiss, knocking over the videos, mirroring Lydia and Parry’s first encounter.

The film concludes with Jack and Parry in the park at night, both now naked, liberated from their mental prisons, looking at the sky. Jack asks, per their previous nighttime park encounter, if he is making the clouds move. Parry asks if Jack is “crazy,” which is funny given Parry’s history, and says it’s due to the wind, of course. His fanciful life as Parry has now mingled with the real-life experience of Henry Sagan. The film ends with, what else, the two of them singing, “How about You?” They look at the skyline of New York and there is a magical movie ending as the lights of the city illuminate and fireworks burst in the air as the fearful fire has been replaced by joyful illumination.

After a week off, the next film is Charly.