'My Left Foot' Review

'My Left Foot' follows the harrowing life of Irishman Christy Brown stricken with cerebral palsy. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Brown in which may be the peak of his acting prowess. To me, no actor has ever come close to the mastery of DDL's performances (Notable other performances include: Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, and Lincoln).

This film starts how it ends, as Christy Brown later in life as an accomplished artist. We show his highest feats before addressing his earlier life and I'm a sucker for this story format in movies. Too often, biopics are boring following a linear timeline, but we hint that Brown was wildly successful before we even know his background. The catch of the entire film is that Brown has cerebral palsy and has no use of either of his arms. Instead, he paints using only the toes on his left foot. Immediately the audience is given the feeling of shock and awe, but we are grabbed wondering how he could accomplish such feats. The classic rule of drama is this: Give your protagonist an intention or goal, but make sure they have to incur obstacles before they can accomplish their goal.

As we follow Christy's life, we realize his whole life is an obstacle. His own father is reluctant to accept a crippled son, he gets bullied for his physical appearance, and cannot talk properly until his mother hires a speech therapist. So by the time we finally realize Christy's artistic talents, the audience is so taken with his ailments, that they inevitably root for him.

The rest of the film focuses on Christy's love interest with his speech therapist and eventual marriage to Mary Carr (it gets...complicated).

This was about as good a biopic as you'll see and I highly recommend.

Streaming: Amazon Prime Video, HBOMax, VUDU (or Rent)

Matt's Rating: 9.1/10