My Left Foot
1989
*****
Director: Jim Sheridan
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray McAnally, Brenda Fricker, Cyril Cusack, Fiona Shaw, Hugh O'Conor, Adrian Dunbar, Ruth McCabe, Alison Whelan
Jim Sheridan's feature debut is a funny and touching adaptation of Christy Brown's autobiography. He was an Irish writer and painter who was born with cerebral palsy. The film doesn't portray him as a pitiful victim but as a strong-willed and often difficult man. Daniel Day-Lewis gives an astonishing performance as Brown and Brenda Fricker is wonderfully warm as his loving mother. They both won Academy Awards for their performances.
