My Left Foot

My Left Foot is a great film for many reasons, but the most important is that it gives us such a complete picture of this man's life. It is not an inspirational movie, although it inspires. It is not a sympathetic movie, although it inspires sympathy. It is the story of a stubborn, difficult, blessed and gifted man who was dealt a bad hand, who played it brilliantly, and who left us some good books, some good paintings and the example of his courage. Read full review

Throughout his life, Brown refused to give in to public convention or his own despair; he wouldn't play the victim. Brown labored to express all of his feelings, not just the acceptable ones. Day Lewis works the same way. My Left Foot, a keen match of actor and subject, stands as an eloquent tribute to the talents of both. Read full review

My Left Foot is gloriously exultant and hilariously unexpected...Sheridan and his great young star have universalized their broken hero. Read full review

A rich cinematic experience, this uplifting British production will leave you in awe of the extraordinary Christy Brown. Read full review

That it features a brilliant performance by Daniel Day-Lewis and a fine supporting cast lifts it from mildly sentimental to excellent. Read full review

Day Lewis' re-creation of writer/painter Christy Brown's condition is so precise, so detailed and so matter-of-fact that it transcends the carping about casting an actor without cerebral palsy. He couldn't have done it better. Read full review

This one you see for the pure love of great movie making. Its tough-minded, unsentimental writing and ferociously brilliant acting--across the board and especially at the top--manage to give a pretty good idea of what Christy Brown, the Dublin-born writer, poet and painter, was all about. Read full review

Brilliant and impassioned as Day Lewis' performance is, it isn't the only reason this film is so exhilarating. Director Jim Sheridan, who clearly has assimilated Brown's two memoirs (the film takes its name from the first), draws Christy's impoverished Irish family with idiomatic rightness and a satisfying and rare (to American films at least) emotional fullness. [15 Sept, 1989, p.41]

My Left Foot celebrates the nurturing, healing power of the family unit while avoiding every cliche about the disabled. [2 Feb 1990, p.C]

The anger, the mischief, the humor and the intelligence that flash in Day-Lewis' eyes make Christy Brown the most memorable film figure of the year. The Oscar does not necessarily reflect the pinnacle of success for an actor, but Day-Lewis certainly deserves that honor. [20 Dec 1989, p.E1]

As good as the story is, and as brilliant as director Jim Sheridan is in his first feature, it is Daniel Day-Lewis who is transcendent as Brown. [2 Feb 1990, p.3F]

Like too many others, I resisted seeing (or at least, rushing out to) this film, fully expecting a stolid, respectable bummer; what I found, without the filmmakers ever having cheapened the material, is one of 1989's most entertaining movies. There is even, I swear, a barroom brawl that's out (and worthy) of John Ford. [3 Jan 1990, p.4D]

An intelligent, beautifully acted adaptation. Read full review

Day-Lewis's performance is necessarily a bit showy—one has to strain at times to understand all his dialogue because of the character's contorted features—but he puts on a terrific drunk scene, and for all his character's travails the film as a whole winds up surprisingly upbeat. Read full review

One hundred and six minutes is entirely too short a time span for Sheridan to cover Christy's entire life, but the performances are so profound they successfully fill in any and all gaps. Read full review

A rounded portrayal that leaves an overwhelming sense of the miraculousness of life. Read full review

The direction, by Jim Sheridan, is tough-edged. [27 Oct 1989, p.G7]