No, this is not a science fiction film but a documentary about Tom, who has Fragile X Syndrome, a common form of inherited learning disability. He lives in a care home and his most fervent wish, endlessly repeated, is to meet Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.
Finally, Tom’s brother and sister decide to take him halfway across the US to meet Lars, a small Dane who was once an embryo tennis champion and nothing like as fierce as they think he might be. The meeting is a great success.
Those are the bones of a film made for the cinema since no television company would touch it, for some odd reason. It is funny, sad and inspirational at the same time — a one-off that can move one to tears at points but never does so deliberately. This is no masterpiece but worth seeing for the way it treats its subject with unpatronising sympathy.
