In America: A Portrait of the Film (Newmarket Shooting Script)
by By Sheridan, Jim, Sheridan, Naomi, and Sheridan, Kirsten
Category: Performing Arts , Film & Video , Screenwriting

Filmmaker Jim Sheridan ( My Left Foot ,  In the Name of the Father , and others) teamed up with two of his daughters in order to write the semi-autobiographical script of an Irish immigrant family coming to New York in the 1980s and befriending a Haitian immigrant/AIDS victim/drug addict/artist, while struggling with the illness of one of their own children. The film has been seen as a celebration of American opportunity that, according to at least one leftist critic, "inverts reality" by depicting its subject matter as merely "the bottom rung of an ever-ascending ladder of success" during the Reagan era. This volume combines the screenplay with shots from the film, a variety of informational sidebars, and a conversation about the movie between Mr. Sheridan and Annette Insdorf, Columbia University's Director of Undergraduate Film Studies. Also included are brief biographies of the key film personnel and a full list of credits. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)