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70 MINUTES | KENDALL SQUARE This is the kind of film that exposes critics for the heartless pigs they are. How can you say anything bad about Ami Ankilewitz, a 34-year-old, 39-pound victim of muscular dystrophy who takes an onerous journey across America to confront the doctor who said that he wouldn’t live beyond six? A guy who does computer animation even though he can move only one finger? My problem is with the filmmaker, Dani Melkin, who probably thought — and I might be wrong — that this would be a good opportunity to get an Oscar nomination. Love is schmaltzy, smarmy, even exploitative, turning a courageous life into a clumsy Hallmark card to make people feel good about the unfortunate. Some genuine moments penetrate the goo: the response of onlookers to Ankilewitz in public, his tragi-comic crush on his nurse. And Ankilewitz is blessed with a sardonic wit. Too bad this movie (or his animation) doesn’t draw on it.
BY PETER KEOUGH
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