My Left Foot (film)
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Jim Sheridan |
|---|---|
| Distributor | Miramax |
| Honors | |
| Daniel Day-Lewis won a much-deserved Oscar for his wily, passionate performance as Irish artist and writer Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy kept him confined to a wheelchair. Filmmaker Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) adapts Brown’s own autobiography for this spirited piece, focusing on the sometimes-difficult fellow’s formative years in his large family and in love with sundry women. Day-Lewis is inspired, and Brenda Fricker (also a recipient of an Oscar for her part in this movie) is almost luminous as Christy’s dedicated mother. So, too, are… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
Daniel Day-Lewis won a much-deserved Oscar for his wily, passionate performance as Irish artist and writer Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy kept him confined to a wheelchair. Filmmaker Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) adapts Brown’s own autobiography for this spirited piece, focusing on the sometimes-difficult fellow’s formative years in his large family and in love with sundry women. Day-Lewis is inspired, and Brenda Fricker (also a recipient of an Oscar for her part in this movie) is almost luminous as Christy’s dedicated mother. So, too, are Ray McAnally as the hero’s stormy father, and Hugh O’Conor (The Young Poisoner’s Handbook) as the child Christy. All in all, this is a complete pleasure for viewers. —Tom Keogh
Barnes and Noble
Throughout his film career, actor Daniel Day-Lewis has consistently—and seemingly effortlessly—tapped into the machismo and swagger of the many characters he’s chosen to portray—from the rugged settler of Last of the Mohicans to a former IRA soldier in The Boxer to the irrepressible rake of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. All of which makes his Oscar-winning performance in My Left Foot so worthy of recognition. Playing the real-life Christy Brown—the renowned Irish author and painter who suffered from cerebral palsy—Day-Lewis was called upon to recreate Brown’s unsettling infirmities and unusual gifts, none of which were particularly pretty to look at. Grunting his words through a contorted mask of tics and winces, Day-Lewis learned to use, as Brown did, the only unafflicted part of his body—a foot—for his daily functions. Still, to many critics, the actor’s greatest achievement was his ability to make the audience care about Brown without compromising the character’s more unattractive qualities, namely a volatile temperament and drunken belligerence. While the plot of the film turns on Brown’s many relationships—notably with his unassailable mother (Brenda Fricker, who also won an Academy Award for her performance) and his nurse, with whom he falls in love—My Left Foot is at its most effective when simply celebrating a man’s startling triumph over insurmountable odds. Bruce Kluger
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