I'm sam

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Movie
German title I'm sam
Original title I am Sam
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2001
length 127 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 0
Rod
Director Jessie Nelson
script Kristine Johnson ,
Jessie Nelson
production Marshall Herskovitz ,
Jessie Nelson
music John Powell
camera Elliot Davis
cut Richard Chew
occupation

I am Sam (Original title: I am Sam ) is an American drama from 2001 . Directed led Jessie Nelson , who also took over production. The film was released in German cinemas on May 9, 2002. The mentally retarded Sam Dawson, played by Sean Penn , has so far been allowed to look after his daughter alone. That should change from her seventh birthday. The authorities want to take Lucy away from him. Together with the successful lawyer Rita Harrison, played by Michelle Pfeiffer , he takes up the fight against the authorities.

action

Since the birth of little Lucy, the mentally retarded Sam Dawson has been there for his daughter Lucy, because the mother was actually only looking for a place to sleep and Sam had made her pregnant. At that time he took on the task of raising her all by himself, as Lucy's mother fled after her birth. When the authorities decide on Lucy's seventh birthday to withdraw custody of her father in order to give Lucy a foster family, Sam starts looking for a good lawyer, whom he finally finds in the stressed-out Rita.

The extremely successful lawyer Rita initially refuses to take on the case. In order to get rid of Sam Dawson, she promises to pass him on to a colleague who is more familiar with this legal situation. However, Sam stubbornly sticks to the lawyer and finally manages to win her over to his case. She then works for him free of charge, and the two of them also benefit from this special relationship between people.

In the course of the film it turns out that Rita's husband is cheating on her and that her personal relationship with her son is not exactly the best. Sam helps her in his own way. In the course of the film, Rita separates from her husband and her relationship with her son improves. The case is initially lost, however, as the prosecution manages to portray Sam as unsuitable as a father in court (he admits on the witness stand that he cannot give Lucy everything she needs). With a clever tactic and with his great comparisons, which are often related to his favorite band, the Beatles, Sam still manages to win his daughter after long negotiations. However, he makes it clear that he needs help. He finds this in the initially strange foster mother who gradually understands and supports the special connection between Lucy and Sam, because she too wants the best for Lucy.

background

The budget for the film, which was shot in Los Angeles, is an estimated $ 22 million. In contrast, there are worldwide revenues of around 98 million dollars.

To prepare for his role, Sean Penn visited the LA Goal, a home for the mentally handicapped in Los Angeles . In some places Sean Penn improvised his role text, for example the end of the scene in the new restaurant. The producers liked the improvised scenes much better than the original script.

Three-year-old Lucy was portrayed by Dakota's younger sister Elle Fanning .

Michelle Pfeiffer confessed in an interview that she had reservations about people with intellectual disabilities and that filming helped her to overcome them.

Cinematographer Elliot Davis filmed many scenes with a handheld camera to give the viewer a subjective image from Sam's perspective.

Connection to other films

There is a reference to Sean Penn's portrayal of a mentally handicapped in the movie Tropic Thunder .

In the animated series Drawn Together , the mentally handicapped cousin of Princess Clara quotes press reviews of I am Sam in rather incomprehensible language .

Film music

Sean Penn only wanted to use original Beatles songs for the soundtrack, but the cost would have been $ 4.5 million in this case, which is why the songs used come from cover bands or other musicians. Among them is his older brother Michael . Even the role names Lucy Diamond and Rita Harrison are based on song titles or band member names of the Beatles ( Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds , Lovely Rita ).

Source: IMDb and Amazon

Reviews

I'm Sam received mixed reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes website gave it a 35% rating based on 144 reviews. The summarized consensus says that the film is "manipulative" and "simplifies a complex issue". Nonetheless, 86% of viewers rated the film positively. This is also confirmed by the online film archive IMDb , another platform on which registered users can submit their film reviews, because the votes cast there resulted in a value of 7.6 out of 10 possible points.

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the film contained "interesting" relationships between the characters, but stumbled upon a script that was constructed from clichés and accordingly often overlooked "realistic" situations. He found the portrayal of Sean Penn "no better than average". He wrote something similar about Michelle Pfeiffer. Only Dakota Fanning's game would "stand out".

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on January 25, 2002 that the film was careful to convince viewers that Lucy had to stay with Sam, but that "common sense" contradicted this premise. Sean Penn was "as good as expected" as Sam, but Ebert found it "painful" to see how much the role restricts him from an acting perspective. He also said the character and portrayal of Michelle Pfeiffer are more suitable for an "eccentric" comedy.

Mick LaSalle wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle of June 21, 2002 that the film deserves to be remembered for the "extraordinary" portrayal of Penn as a mentally retarded person.

The lexicon of international films wrote: “The story of a handicapped person's struggle for equal treatment, which is accompanied by the convergence of two apparently completely different worlds, is sensitively told with a hand-held camera in a casual style and played convincingly. In the long run, however, the dramaturgy does not manage to avoid the usual paths of a Hollywood production. "

The TV magazine Prisma wrote: “This melodrama is for all those who love to use several handkerchiefs in one film. There are plenty of tear gland depressors here. Thanks to a brilliantly acting Sean Penn, this is a handicapped drama for which Penn should have received the Oscar, but which Denzel Washington received for his role in the thriller " Training Day ". "

Awards

Sean Penn was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award , the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and the Satellite Award for his portrayal of Sam Dawson . However, all awards went to other actors, including the Oscar to Denzel Washington for the film Training Day .

Dakota Fanning won the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award , the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, and the Young Artist Award . The seven-year-old actress was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress , but had to admit defeat to Brit Helen Mirren for Gosford Park . She received the Satellite Award in the Best Young Actress category .

The film was nominated for the Golden Pyramid at the Cairo International Film Festival 2002 . The director Jessie Nelson won for best first or second work . The film received a nomination for the Japanese Academy Awards in 2003 for Best Foreign Film .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for I am Sam . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ↑ IMDb locations
  3. ↑ IMDb Box office
  4. ↑ a b IMDb Trivia
  5. ↑ Le style visuel , allocine.fr
  6. ↑ I am Sam . IMDb. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  7. ↑ Review on Rotten Tomatoes
  8. ↑ Rating in the Internet Movie Database
  9. ↑ Film review by James Berardinelli
  10. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert
  11. ^ Film review by Mick LaSalle
  12. ↑ I am Sam. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  13. ↑ Film review on prisma.de