My Left Foot

1989 biopic

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The reminisces of a mental defective.

In putting together a "Best of 1989" list, I figured this was something I needed to rewatch. My noticings:

I had forgotten how great Daniel Day Lewis is. I knew it was a great performance, definitely deserving of the Academy Award. But part of me still thought it was sort of one of those imitation performances that seems a little more special than it is because he's playing a condition (or a larger-than-life character) instead of an actual human being. That's not what this is at all. Daniel Day Lewis becomes Christy Brown. There wasn't a single moment in this when I couldn't believe they hired a guy with cerebral palsy to play the part. This isn't just a deserving-of-the-Oscar performance. This is an all-time great performance. There's the physical stuff (the painful-looking movements, blowing out birthday candles, playing soccer, putting a Mozart record on in the stunning opening sequence), but there's this emotion with the character that you just feel.

Brenda Fricker has no chance to be as good as Daniel Day Lewis, but she very nearly pulls it off as Mrs. Brown. That's another great performance. Additionally, Hugh O'Conor, the kid who plays the younger Christy Brown, is really good. He handles the physical stuff so well. At first, I thought it was Daniel Day Lewis method-acting and somehow transforming himself into a child, but it turns out that it was a different person.

Another observation--Christy Brown's "handwriting" is actually a lot better than mine.

I was surprised at how much of this revolves around Christy Brown wanting to get laid. 

The best scene is a dinner scene where it takes Christy Brown about a half an hour to say the word "congratulations," a swirl around the table, this intense physicality.