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Ira Wohl's Best Boy is an Oscar-winning new feature-length film, again by a committed young film-maker, which is very much a part of the finest spirit of doctmentary film-making. It examines an individual and his situation with love, affection and respect.
Best Boy is about Ira's cousin, Philly, who is 52, mentally retarded and has spent almost his entire life with his parents. It is an absorbing record of the changes Ira initiated in Philly's life as it is realised that his parents cannot live and care for him much longer.
Laurie Stone, in The Village Voice, writes:
"Best Boy was intended to be, and is, much more than a private family record about a good deed. It tells an affecting story about family life, growth and separation. Ira Wohl has used the uncertainty, pain and joy of real people to tell this story, but the result is moving and never exploitive. Best Boy is rich in psychological nuance and drama".
Academy Award, 1980, Best Feature-Documentary.