I Am Sam

I Am Sam (Original Title: I am Sam ) is an American film drama from 2001 was directed by Jessie Nelson, who also took over the production.. The film was released in Germany on 9 May 2002. The mentally retarded Sam Dawson, played by Sean Penn, was allowed to date their own with his daughter. From her seventh birthday will change all that. The authorities want to take him away from Lucy. Along 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 for his daughter Lucy is there, because the mother had actually wanted a place to sleep and Sam had made ​​pregnant. All alone, he then took over the task of their education, as Lucy's mother fled to her birth. When the authorities decide to Lucy's seventh birthday, to escape her father custody to give Lucy a foster family, Sam makes the search for a good lawyer, he eventually finds in the dauergestressten Rita.

The extremely successful lawyer Rita refuses at first to take on the case. To get rid of Sam Dawson, she promises him to give it to a colleague who is more closely familiar with this legal situation further. However, Sam remains stubbornly off to the lawyer and manages finally, to win them to his case. You will then work for free for him, and also between the two human benefit from this special relationship.

As the film unfolds, it turns out that Rita's husband is cheating and their personal relationship with her ​​son is not just for the best. Sam helps her in his own way. In the course of the film, Rita separated from her husband, and her relationship with her son is improving. However, the case comes first lost since the prosecution manages to Sam as a father as not suitable to represent ( he admits on the witness stand, Lucy not being able to give it everything it needs ) in court. Through a clever tactic and with its great comparisons that are often on his favorite band, the Beatles, based, it creates Sam after long negotiations still to win his daughter. He makes it clear, however, that he is in need of help. This he finds in his first foreign nursing mother who gradually understands the special relationship between Lucy and Sam and supported, because they also want the best for Lucy.

Background

The budget of the film, which was shot in Los Angeles, is estimated at 22 million dollars. This contrasts with global revenues of about $ 98 million.

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

The three-year Lucy was portrayed by Dakota's younger sister Elle Fanning.

Michelle Pfeiffer admitted in an interview that she had reservations with regard to the mentally handicapped and that the shooting helped her to overcome them.

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

In the film Tropic Thunder, there is a nod to Sean Penn's portrayal of a mentally disabled.

In the animated series Drawn Together, the mentally handicapped cousin of Princess Clara in quite incomprehensible language press reviews cited to " I Am Sam ".

Film Music

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

Source: IMDb and Amazon

Criticism

" Empathetic, told with a handheld camera in casual style and convincingly played story of the struggle of people with disabilities to equal treatment, which is associated with the approximation of two seemingly completely different worlds. However, it does not succeed on the dramaturgy of time, to avoid the usual paths of a Hollywood production. "

Awards

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

Dakota Fanning won the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and the Young Artist Award. As a Best Supporting Actress for the seven-year rotation time thespian was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, but the Briton Helen Mirren for Gosford Park had to concede defeat. In the category Best Young Actress she received the Satellite Award.

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

2001 in film Screenplay Film score John Powell Richard Chew Michael Penn Aimee Mann Neil Finn Academy Award for Best Actor Critics' Choice Movie Award
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