I am Sam is a movie about a mentally disabled man trying to get custody of his child. I thought the movie was incredibly moving and heartwarming. There are some emotionally intense scenes when Sam and his daughter are being forced apart, and some scenes in the court room that are intense during the custody hearing.
Sean Penn's portrayal in this movie is priceless... It moves you to the bone, although it can be uninteresting to see if you lack empathy. Nevertheless, Sean Penn's performance deserves to be seen. This is a sad, poignant and thought provoking watch.
I'm talking about entrusting an eight year old's welfare in the hands of someone whose records show he was diagnosed with infantile autism, mental retardation.” Based on IDEAS's 14 disability categories, Sam would be diagnosed with Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
This is one film that can tug your heart strings and have your eyes flooded with tears. It's powered by the performances of Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning. Dakota has an innate ability to use her big beautiful eyes to induce crying.
When it comes to researching films about autism, 'I Am Sam' is rarely mentioned. His intellectual disability is not specifically labelled in the film, but much of Sam's traits are consistent with autism- his poor coordination, repetitive behaviours, echolalia, OCD and poor eye contact.
I Am Sam (2001) - A Good Parent Scene (8/9) | Movieclips
Was I Am Sam autistic?
Document Information. This document provides a movie diagnosis review of "I Am Sam" which portrays a middle-aged man named Sam living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It summarizes Sam's symptoms such as rigid routines and pragmatic language difficulties.
After having a one-night stand with a woman, Sam becomes the single father of a little girl (Dakota Fanning, Man on Fire). (The girl is named Lucy Diamond Dawson, after the Beatles' song.) The woman abandons the two immediately after the girl's birth and disappears. Thus, Sam is left to raise Lucy by himself.
Although dramatically obvious and full of cliche', it will still tug those tears right out of your eyes. Note to parents: A fine film, but there is plenty of curses here, plus Sam's disability may be too intense for younger kids to handle.
Roger Ebert wrote that "The lesson 'I Am Sam' wants to teach us is, 'All you need is love. ' This is not quite strictly true. Sam loves his daughter more than anyone else, and she loves him, but it will take more than love for him to see her through grade school and adolescence and out into the world.
In the end, the foster family who planned on adopting Lucy lets Sam have custody of her. Sam says that Lucy still needs a mother and asks if the foster mother would like to help raise Lucy. The movie ends with Lucy's soccer game where Sam is the referee.
The mother disappeared right after giving birth (her farewell words: "All I wanted was a place to sleep"), and now Sam is doing his best to cope, although sometimes Lucy has to help him with her homework. Eventually Lucy decides to stop learning so she won't get ahead of her dad.
Just Sam left Idol label, Hollywood Records, after signing with them in the wake of their victory. The singer previously admitted that part of their motivation for busking came from the hefty sums they owed the label for their songs.
They take Lucy away from Sam. Sam meets a rich lawyer named Rita Harrison, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. He's inspired to hire her by the Beatles song about “lovely Rita, meter maid” and because her last name is Harrison, like the Beatle guitarist George Harrison, but Rita the lawyer wants nothing to do with Sam's case.
The beautiful actress confirmed reports that the sex scene between their characters Rita Harrison and Sam Dawson had been left on the cutting room floor - which she blames on nervous male movie executives.
Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for playing the daughter of an intellectually challenged man in the drama film I Am Sam (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, making her the youngest nominee in SAG history.
During this film we see young Vada begin to grow up. Unfortunately, an unexpected death will either drive her back into her previous loneliness, or give her the strength to tell the ones she loves that she cares about them. We award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film for ages twelve and above.
"I am sam" is rated PG-13 for occasional strong profanity (including one utterance of the so-called "R-rated" curse word) and some crude slang terms. Running time: 130 minutes.
First, there is a ton of violence. Teens/tweens are brutally killed, their bones snapped, eyes gouged out, eaten by monsters etc. There is a terrifying possession scene is season two and there is an exorcism scene that is very scary. In season four, a group of younger kids are killed in a horrific massacre.
Great, incredibly moving movie. Starts off slowly, and confusingly, but gets better and better, and more emotional, as it goes on. Ending feels a bit rushed, but that would be the only criticism. Sean Penn gives a superb performance as the mentally challenged Sam.
90 Day Fiancé couple Sam Wilson and Citra Herani are expecting their first baby. Sam and Citra, who were featured in season 10 of the TLC show, made the announcement during their segment of 90 Day Fiancé Tell All, which aired Sunday, March 3.
An intellectually disabled man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.
