I Am

I Am (2010)

The shift is about to hit the fan.

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Date of release
2010-12-02
TMDB
7.3 / 10 (59)
Runtime
1h 16m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Tom Shadyac

Casting

Interesting facts

I Am is a 2010 American documentary film written, directed, and narrated by Tom Shadyac. The film asks the question: "What is wrong with the world, and what can we do about it?", and explores Shadyac's personal journey after a bicycling accident in 2007 which led him to the answers "the nature of humanity", "the world's ever-growing addiction to materialism", and "human connections". Shot with Shadyac and a team of four, the film contrasts sharply with the director's most notable comedic works, such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Liar Liar (1997), and Bruce Almighty (2003), all of which starred Jim Carrey.

Background

Tom Shadyac suffered post-concussion syndrome after a bicycle accident in Virginia in 2007, experiencing months of acute headaches and hyper-sensitivity to light and noise. He slept in a closet due to chronic tinnitus that lasted more than six months. It was this constant ringing that the doctors could not treat that led him to suicidal thoughts.

In 2011, a New York Times article stated that "the symptoms of a concussion [didn't] go away. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store was painful for Shadyac, whose brain was unable to filter various stimuli. Shadyac subsequently gave away his excess fortune, opening a homeless shelter in Charlottesville, Virginia and making a key donation to Telluride, Colorado's effort to set aside a natural area at the town's entrance.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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