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“The trembling was a message from the future,” says Michael J Fox at the end of this touching documentary’s brilliant opening scene.
Using a body double, expertly edited movie clips and the star’s voiceover, director Davis Guggenheim whisks us back in time to enter the mind of a 29-year-old movie icon of the 80s.
The previous night, Fox went on a bender with Woody Harrelson, and, after he fails to swipe a moth away from his face, he finds that one of his fingers has developed a mind of its own. He searches his memory of the night before, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing.
After he references his famous time-travelling movie, we’re back in the present day to see the star as he is now, decades after receiving a life-changing diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
The Canadian recounts how he shot to fame in his early twenties with roles in sitcom Family Ties and the hit movie Back To The Future.
Both roles were filmed concurrently, with the young actor being ferried between sets and sleeping in the back of cars.
The following years were a blur of photoshoots, chat show appearances and movies.
Archive clips remind us of the talents that made him a star. The fresh-faced actor had great comic timing and seemed to be in perpetual motion.
Fox kept his diagnosis a secret so he could continue to work and support his young family. He became an expert at calculating when his medication would kick in, secretly swallowing pills before takes and hiding shaky hands in pockets when a scene ran for longer than he bargained for.
After he turned to alcohol and fell into self pity, it was his wife Tracy Pollan who turned his life around.
In the present day, we see him falling in the street while speaking to a fan. “Nice to meet you. You knocked me off my feet!” he says, picking up a shoe.
It’s shocking but inspiring. Parkinson’s hasn’t robbed Fox of his drive or his sense of humour.
