Communion
Was author Whitley Strieber telling the truth about extraterrestrial  visitations in his bestselling book,Communion? Perhaps no one  can  really prove or disprove it, making the enigma of Strieber himself more  interesting than his allegations. That's precisely the angle taken by this  film adaptation, in which Christopher Walken's richly eccentric performance becomes a fascinating portrait of something more important than rumors of  alien abduction--that is, human resistance and surrender to transformation. The  script does an end run around the deductive process and research Strieber  employed in his book to substantiate his claims. Instead, the story  concentrates on the impact of those experiences on Strieber's own psyche: the  disbelief, the repressed memories, the mounting helplessness and futility as  the years go by.Walken makes it all terribly compelling, from his childlike compliance to  the diminutive aliens who turn up in his home at night to an unexpected story  climax in which Strieber demystifies the little buggers on his own  surprisingly comic terms. The supporting cast is terrific, including Lindsay  Crouse as Strieber's concerned wife, Frances Sternhagen as a doctor, and Joel  Carlson as Strieber's son. This is not an offering that panders to today's  alleged abductees, but rather a study of a sole survivor who finds his peace  on his own terms.--Tom Keogh