Life According to Sam

2013 "Progeria is just a part of who I am."
8.1| 1h30m| G| en
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Progeria is a rare, fatal genetic condition that causes accelerated aging in children; its young victims rarely live past 13. This moving documentary explores the remarkable world of Sam Berns and the relentless pursuit of a treatment and cure by his parents (both doctors) to save their son from the disease.

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HBO Documentary Films

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Reviews

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Matthew Luke Brady What a remarkable boy that Sam Berns was.Life According to Sam tells the story about Sam Berns when he had progeria, a progressive aging disorder so rare that fewer than 250 children in the world had it at the time. Little was known about the disease, and all children with progeria died of heart attack or stroke at an average age of 13. Told there was no treatment or cure, they refused to accept that as the final verdict.Now normally I'm not such a big fan of documentary's but a couple of times I will find a interesting and enjoyable one time to time, but I don't really watch that much Documentary's. But what really got me interested in Life According to Sam is the fact when Sam Berns sadly passed away in January 2014 and I heard nothing but great and inspiring things from this kid and a Documentary about him made me inserted to know more from Sam and boy dose this Documentary do it well.I won't lie but this movie or Documentary if you like to call almost brought me into little tears, yeah I know it's not very manly to admit cracking up in a couple of scenes but since I've always got to be honest when it comes to movie I won't lie that this only most brought me into tears.Sean Fine and Andrea Nix did a excellent job directing this Documentary with much care and effort that made this more effective to me.For problems I didn't really have any to be honest. And the reason why I'm not going to give it 5/5 start's is because it's great but not on the level of oh my god this is amazing 5/5 star's, but it's still good without a doubt and if you had the chance to watch this then go ahead it may not be a easy watch sometimes but it's still worth checking.
Andy Radford I have been rating movies on IMDb for quite a few years but have never written a review. After seeing this documentary I felt I needed to write something that would encourage people to watch it.Being a father of a 2 year old this documentary was hard to watch at first. I found myself putting myself in the parent's position and found it heart breaking. The more you watch the more of Sam's personality shines through and this brought a smile to my face. By the end I felt uplifted and lucky that my little boy is healthy. I will never take that for granted.This should be watched by everybody. If you can watch this without welling up then you have no soul.Sam has sadly passed away recently. My thoughts go to his parents and friends who must miss a brilliant and brave boy.
georgepeternel Three intertwined stories are creatively woven together in this somewhat understated gem: a story of how a child with the rare and untreatable disease progeria lives and views life as it has been dealt to him; a chronicle of how his parents'love for him provided them with moments of fear, anxiety, struggle and yes, celebration; and an insider's view of how the world of medical research and clinical trials really works.Connect these dots with the themes of love, courage, persistence,and overcoming tremendous odds and you have a film that made me think and feel. And think and feel some more.
Tembrock This is one of those films that I'm simply a better person for having seen. I was fortunate enough to see it at the Sundance Film Festival and enjoy and Q&A with both the filmmakers and Sam himself with his parents (via Skype on the big screen). It is a wonderfully intimate look at an incredibly challenging turn of events for this family that discovers their son has this rare disease and the choices they make in reaction to a bleak prognosis by doctors. Most of all I think I enjoyed Sam's perspective. As the movie title indicates we're let in to the world view of this young man and even as I type this I well up in recalling his wonderfully optimistic and yet realistic look at life. Sometimes I see films like this advertised and I avoid them because I think the subject matter is going to be difficult and I'd rather see something more escapist. That's fine but I would only say that if that is your take after seeing the subject matter, see the film anyway! You'll not regret it. In many ways it's extremely life affirming and very positive. Bravo to the filmmakers and to the family for sharing their lives with us.