Charly (1968)

IMDb plot summary: An intellectually disabled man undergoes an experiment that gives him the intelligence of a genius.
Directed by Ralph Nelson. Starring Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, and Leon Janney.

Despite Flowers for Algernon being adapted multiple times to stage, screen, and radio, I've actually never seen/heard any of them, nor have I read the short story, so while I had a general idea of what happened here, this was my first chance to really discover the full story. This one feels... lacking. It *feels* like a short story expanded into a longer version, and as such it seems to be rushed, particularly toward the end, where we don't really have much, if any, time to grapple with the fact of what's coming. The majority of the film is spent setting up the climactic turn of events, and I wish the film had been more evenly distributed between the story beats. I'm not sure what the film as set up here is attempting to tell me -- ignorance is bliss? Scientists shouldn't try to mess with the human brain? I feel like it's trying to say something significant but isn't sure itself what that is. That being said, this messy film does have some nice moments. The few scenes we do get of Charly coming to grips with his fate are well-crafted and exepertly put us inside his head, and watching his story unfold is interesting. Just messy in hindsight.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Charly < Nine Lives
Charly > The Toy That Saved Christmas
Charly > The Deer Hunter
Charly < Yankee Doodle Dandy
Charly < Blade Runner
Charly < Company (1997)
Charly < Twist of Faith
Charly > The Thirteenth Floor
Charly > Dazed and Confused
Charly < Biloxi Blues
Charly < The Man in the Iron Mask
Final spot: #1896 out of 3065.