I Am Sam

Jessie Nelson and her co-writer Kristine Johnson researched the script at L.A. GOAL, a Los Angeles organisation for adults with intellectual disabilities, and two men they met there, Brad Silverman and Joe Rosenberg, play Sam’s friends. Casting a non-disabled lead was therefore a deliberate decision, and that is where the objection to the film lands. None of the Beatles songs carrying the texture are Beatles recordings. Rights to the originals could not be cleared, so the tracks were re-cut by Sarah McLachlan, Eddie Vedder, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Ben Harper and others. The title comes from the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham, the daughter from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The courtroom line runs one way. The opposing side never gets a working argument, and whether Sam can actually raise a child is settled by feeling, not debated. Recognition came through performance. Sean Penn was nominated for lead actor and lost to Denzel Washington, the film’s only Academy Award nomination. At the actors guild Penn, Dakota Fanning and the ensemble were each nominated, and Fanning at 7 is the youngest individual nominee in that guild’s history. A good fit if you look for the film’s real gains in the Silverman and Rosenberg scenes. Not for anyone expecting the custody case to give both sides a working argument.