Mon. Sept. 21

Science - all forms, chemistry, biology, physics, you name it - was one of the subjects I struggled most with in high school. When college came a knockin', I did my best to avoid anything to do with labs, experiments and numbers. I liked letters and words. But one of our favorite local happenings is "Science on Screen at the Coolidge Corner Theatre," which kicks up again Monday Sept. 21 at 7. What's the hook? Well, you take a movie that involves science and bring in a scientist to discusss the science (or lack thereof) involved in the movie itself. For the first date of the season, the Coolidge has a doozy: "Coma," the medical thriller where there seems to be a black-market in organs going on at Boston Memorial Hospital. (Note: There is no Boston Memorial Hospital.) We suspect this is a subject that has gained people's attention more and more over the years, moving from a "they couldn't!" to "they do that, don't they."

Who should be giving the pre-screening talk but Robin Cook, MD, author of the best-selling novel of the same name (as well as many other medically themed paranoid thrillers). We're suspecting Cook may have some insights into the world he created in print back in 1977 and what it might might be like in real-life in 2009. We can also say, it's a damn good movie. Scared the pants off us when we saw on the big screen way back, and would probably do so again. Just that scene where we see comatose bodies suspended on wires in a computer-controlled environment – just spare parts waiting for the right price. (By the way, we should mention we heartily support organ donation. Just when the time is right, that is, after death. Natural death, not induced death or suspension.)

The plot: When her best friend falls into a coma after a routine operation, surgical resident Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) does some digging, and discovers that many other patients, all young and relatively healthy, have met the same fate.  She digs deeper, but her obsession with finding answers only antagonizes her superiors and alienates her ambitious boyfriend, Dr. Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas), who is reluctant to believe her suspicions of foul play.  The tension builds as Dr. Wheeler’s investigation leads to ... well, you know.
Science on Screen programs cost the normal movie price of $9.75.

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2501 www.coolidge.org/science.