''The Bumblebee Flies Anyway'' is a 1999

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film starring

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Wood ...

and directed by

Martin Duffy Martin Bernard Duffy (18 May 1967 – 18 December 2022) was an English musician who originally played keyboards with Felt and most famously with Primal Scream. Career Duffy was born in Birmingham and grew up in Rednal in the south of the city ...

. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Robert Cormier Robert Edmund Cormier (January 17, 1925 – November 2, 2000) was an American author and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, ...

. The film premiered at the

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Cho ...

in September 1999 and was given a limited release in the United States on January 1, 2000.

Plot

Barney Snow wakes up in a hospital with no memory of why he is there. All he has is his name and some vague recollections of a car crash. He assumes that he is in the hospital for his amnesia and settles in to try to recover. He quickly realizes that all of the other residents of the youth clinic are all suffering from terminal illnesses. Another patient, Mazzo, asks Barney to play host for his visiting twin sister Cassie. Barney immediately falls for Cassie and strives to get better, if only to be able to see her in a setting outside the hospital. He is determined to learn about his past so that he can make her a part of his future. In his explorations, both inside his shattered memories and through the physical rooms of the hospital, Barney starts to realize that there was no car crash. Doctor Harriman induced amnesia in Barney to make him forget everything in his past. Barney demands to know why, and Harriman tells him he has

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The experimental procedure that Barney is undergoing is attempting to test the power of the mind in fighting cancer. Barney had volunteered for the treatment, hoping for a miracle cure. The theory was that if Barney did not know he had cancer, the body might stop creating the cancer cells. The explanation Harriman gives comes from an old myth that, based on weight ratios to wing power and

wind resistance In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

, the

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

s should be aerodynamically incapable of flight — yet the bumblebee doesn’t know that, so it flies anyway. Torn between his hope for a cure and his desire to continue his budding relationship with Cassie, Barney is forced to choose whether to go through the amnesia procedure again or remain with the memories and knowledge he has thus far acquired.

Cast

Critical reception

Lisa Nesselson of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' praised the acting and called it "A meticulously made film that raises haunting questions about personal identity and the role of mind over matter in treating serious illness." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' gave a more mixed review, commenting the film cannot decide if it is "a lighthearted teen coming-of-age story, or an eerie

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

nightmare about wayward medical ethics".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bumblebee Flies Anyway, The 1999 films 1999 drama films 1999 independent films 1990s coming-of-age drama films 1990s romantic drama films 1990s teen drama films American teen drama films Films based on American novels Films produced by Steven Haft Films about amnesia Films scored by Christopher Tyng 1990s English-language films 1990s American films