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‘I
am Sam’ over dramatic Sean Penn is a great actor. He particularly impressed me in movies like “Dead Man Walking” and “Thin Red Line.” Penn always seems to become the character he portrays. In his most recent film, Jessie Nelson’s “I am Sam,” Penn once again becomes the character, this time playing a mentally handicapped man. Unfortunately the role creates an inaccurate,stereotypical and comical retarded man.
The film tells a formula tale of Sam, a disabled man (Penn), who finds himself responsible for the care of a baby. This forces him to bluster through some early parenting crash courses, but he apparently manages just fine. Of course, problems begin when his little girl, Lucy (Dakota Fanning) reaches an age where her intelligence begins exceeding her father’s. So a mean nasty social worker places that sweet innocent little girl in a foster home away from her loving, dedicated father. It almost brings you to tears. Lucky for Sam, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), a top-notch lawyer , ends up taking on Sam as a client pro bono. If the movie was called “I am Rita” the movie posters all would have read “She needed him, more than he needed her,” or something equally unoriginal. Sam, Rita and Lucy all have the same role as characters. They are each there to will the audience to cry. Lucy is the only character who does so without a disgusting display of theatrics. Fanning does a great job, and you couldn’t have asked for more from this young child star. The movie tries to be something that it’s not. This definitely comes through with the cinematography and editing. The story is written like a television movie, but it’s edited with strange angles, weird pauses and cuts that might make you think you were watching an independent film by an extremely artistic director. Yet, the cuts have no rhythm and this fancywork doesn’t help the film, it only gave me a headache. The film’s big success surprisingly comes in its soundtrack. Every song on the album is a Beatles song. Using these songs helps continue a motif that starts as soon as Sam names his baby girl Lucy Diamond Dawson. Yet the soundtrack doesn’t contain original cuts of these songs, but rather the tracks have been re-recorded by contemporary musicians. Some of the songs include “Blackbird” by Sarah McLachlan and “Strawberry Fields” by Ben Harper. Sheryl Crow, the Wallflowers and the Black Crowes also make their appearance on the soundtrack. “I am Sam” evokes emotions from every angle. The film even raises some interesting questions aboutchildren’s rights and the roles of fathers. Yet, the film could have been more. After a couple of times where the film feels like it is going to end, you finally don’t mind when the credits roll and the film has come to an end. Ryan
Eloe |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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