IMDB Ranking 7.8
A movie, set in America, by Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, The Boxer, In the Name of the Father, The Field) is about a Johnny and Sarah Sullivan who stay on in America illegally with their ten year old daughter Christy and their five year old daughter Ariel. What they are really trying to escape from is the tragic death of their boy, Frankie, who fell down the stairs.
They settle in to a tenement in New York City that houses drug addicts, a transvestite and an artist who screams all the time. Johnny is an actor and keeps auditioning for work, while Sarah gets a job in an ice cream shop.
On Halloween the girls go Trick or treating in their building, but no one answers except the screaming artist, Mateo. He scares Johnny, but before you know it he is up to dinner and the kids are down visiting him.
Sarah gets pregnant but there are complications. If she carries the baby to term she may die from infection. Johnny drives a taxi to make ends meet, but isn't having much fun while he waits for his big break. Meanwhile, Mateo, who has AIDS, is getting sicker.
The baby comes early and needs a blood transfusion and Christy is the one to give it. The baby survives and the family owes over $30,000. it ends up that Mateo paid for it. Then Johnny gets a part in a play. When they bring the baby home, Mateo is gone.
A beautiful movie about a family that meets one tragedy after another, but fights their way through it.
