Brainstorm (1983) on Netflix
PG19831h 46mRomanceSci-FiThriller
Michael Brace, his estranged wife Karen and their colleague Lillian Reynolds build a device that records a person's sensations for another to feel. The company wants it used for military ends.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.4/1014,611 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes57%
Trailer
Plot summary
At a research lab, Michael Brace and his colleague Lillian Reynolds have built a brain-computer interface that records a person's sensations on tape for someone else to experience. When Michael's estranged wife Karen, who works on the team, wears the recorder, Michael plays the tape back and the team finds that emotions are recorded too. Michael records his own memories of life with Karen and shares them with her, and the two reconcile. Alex Terson, the company's chief executive, has the team demonstrate the device to investors to gain financing. He and the investors press Lillian to accept Landan Marks, a federal government worker with military ties, on the team, and Karen objects to the plan to develop the invention for military use. A team member, Gordy Forbes, records himself having sex and shares the tape with colleagues.
Cast
- Joe Dorseyas Hal Abramson
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Brainstorm (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After Natalie Wood drowned during a production break in November 1981, with her major scenes already shot, MGM took her death as a chance to terminate the troubled film, and the sets were locked and frozen on all the stages.
- Director Douglas Trumbull said Lloyd's of London, having taken depositions, realized the film could still be finished, so instead of paying an insurance claim it put up $2.75 million for him to complete principal photography and $3.5 million for post-production.
- Trumbull finished Brainstorm by rewriting the script and using Natalie Wood's younger sister Lana for Wood's few remaining scenes; the film carries the dedication credit "To Natalie".
- Douglas Trumbull conceived Brainstorm to introduce his Showscan 60-frames-per-second 70 mm process and wanted the material of the mind to look more real and high-impact than reality, but MGM withdrew its plans to release the experimental picture in that new format.
- Because of Brainstorm's immensely troubled production and his disagreements with MGM, Douglas Trumbull opted never to direct a Hollywood film again.
