Penny Marshall gave actors time to make improbable stories believable. We value the warmth and patience of her direction, especially in Awakenings, though she could press for tears when the performances had already done enough.
Fi1m perspective
Robert De Niro's stillness and Robin Williams's attentive reactions give Awakenings (1990) its most moving moments. Marshall lets the effort to reach Leonard matter without adding a speech to explain why it should. We found those attempts at contact more affecting than we expected, because both actors make the possibility of a response feel urgent. Her patience here is the strongest reason to seek out her work: she takes tenderness seriously and gives the actors time to make it convincing.
Her feature directing began with Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), and Big (1988), with Tom Hanks, established her gift for making an improbable story believable through its actors. A League of Their Own (1992) gave her warmth a larger ensemble to work with, in a story about women's baseball during the Second World War. The later Renaissance Man (1994) was less sure of its tone and pace. She continued directing features through 2001, before moving towards producing and occasional television work.
In Awakenings, Steven Zaillian adapts Oliver Sacks's account of catatonic patients and the hope offered by L-DOPA. Marshall's willingness to wait for a reaction serves this material better than the script's tidier arrangements of difficult experiences. Julie Kavner, as Eleanor Costello, supplies a quieter warmth alongside the central performances, and that restraint is welcome. The script and score sometimes push too hard, as though the audience needs persuading that reaching another person matters.
The more serious weakness is the thin characterisation of the patients outside the central relationship. They are not given enough individuality, and Marshall sometimes allows illness to become a lesson for the people observing it. That limits a film whose principal actors work so carefully to make contact feel personal. Start with Awakenings for the performances; expect to be moved, and occasionally to resent the encouragement.
Biography
Penny Marshall, also credited as Carole Penny Marshall, was an American actress and director. She was born on 15 October 1943 in The Bronx, New York City, and died on 17 December 2018.
Marshall first gained prominence as an actress, notably playing Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983). She later directed films including Big (1988), Awakenings (1990) and A League of Their Own (1992). She also appeared in voice roles in The Simpsons (1989) and other television series.
