All this last weekend Sky TV was playing the Back to the Future movies back to back on Sky BTTF (channel 303).
It’s unusual for them to do such a thing unless there’s a solid reason to do so and I figured it must be due to one reason in particular: They wanted to cash in on/support the release of Michael J. Fox’s new autobiographical documentary film:
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023)
I’d heard and seen a lot of good stuff about this film, and after reading Michael J. Fox’s autobiography, Lucky Man: A Memoir during the covid lock downs of 2020, not to mention Back to the Future being my favourite movie of all time, it was a film I just had to watch.
I’m really glad I did because I loved it!
The film is basically the story of Michael J. Fox’s life told in his own words. It documents his childhood and his path to becoming a huge star in the 1980s, to his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis at the age of 28 and his subsequent battle with its symptoms.
Using much of what he wrote about in the four books he’s published, the whole thing is an incredibly intimate and honest look into the inspiring life of an actor a lot of us grew up watching on our screens.
Watching the film it’s very easy to feel sadness and pity for Michael J. Fox. Seeing him struggle to walk and speak at times is heartbreaking, especially when shown alongside archive footage of him in his heyday as well as clips from some of his well known movies. The very last thing he wants is pity though, and it’s truly inspiring to see a man faced with such a debilitating disease remain so optimistic and upbeat. How someone can keep their sense of humour in the face of such adversity is just incredible.
Lucky Man: A Memoir is one of the best books I’ve ever read and this documentary borrows heavily from it. If you’ve never read it I can’t recommend reading it highly enough!
Unfortunately the only place you can currently watch this movie is on Apple TV+. Hopefully though it’ll be available in more places in time. It’s such a touching film and one with such an important message that I think everyone should see it.
Have you seen Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie? Have you read any of his books?
Let me know in the comments.