Mission to Lars

A wonderful insight into the life of people who live with fragile x, both the sufferer and their family.

This film brings out all emotions and is very well documented. An honest display of how Toms siblings misunderstood him until they spent considerable one on one time with him.

Kate and Will's determination to help Tom achieve his dream despite his fears and anxieties is admirable and the amount of things they had to overcome was immense and for that they deserve all the respect in the world.

This is a must see film for everyone.

MISSION TO LARS

Mission to Lars is a documentary about an English guy named Tom Spicer. Tom's dream is to meet Lars Ulrich, the drummer from his favourite heavy metal band Metallica. So his brother and sister, Kate and William, decide to take him to America to see Metallica live and meet Lars in person. Now I am sure meeting one of the biggest bands in the world is not an easy task, but it is even harder if the person you are taking has Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X Syndrome is a complicated syndrome… and if you don't know what it is then read up about it. Bottom line, Tom will not do anything unless he wants to and he has no problem with making everything really hard work unless he does everything his own way. This makes it very hard for Kate and William to get him to his dream.

The film is very touching in places… I felt sorry for Tom, but also he brought some great comedy to the film. His straight to the point answers and his refusal to do a lot of things made life difficult for Kate and William, but made for entertainment for the watcher.

You don't really see much of William as he is holding the camera, but you can hear him talk. Kate is in front of the camera a lot looking after Tom and trying to get everything sorted… but she does not come across as very likable. It is a nice thing she is doing for her brother, but it felt like she is only doing it because she feels guilty for drifting apart from Tom over the years. Is she doing it to make her brother happy or just to help her feel less guilty? She comes across as a bit horrible to William in places too. Is she really that mean or was it just edited to make her look like that. Maybe it was just because she was tired. We don't really know. I know they were on the road for a very long time and the movie is only on for 90 minutes, so there is a lot of footage that never made it to the screen. Maybe William left out some bits that he should have showed so we could understand some of the comments she made. She says that she is doing this to make Tom meet his hero and for Tom to have a great time away… but it seems her stress is making it all harder work. She does realize this in the film though.

This documentary did a lot of good things really. I didn't really know about FXS before watching this. It has opened my eyes to it. It also shows that the love of a family can really make things happen.

A good documentary that is honest and full of emotions. It will make you laugh, but also make you wonder if the meet and greet will ever happen.

I will give this film 7 out of 10.

Kate: "Are you looking forward to meeting Lars" Tom: "No."

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Films are meant to communicate emotions and this documentary reaches that goal by far. Unfamiliar with Fragile X syndrome until now, one can only imagine the burden this kind of illness must bring upon another human being and the people around them. Words like Love, Hope and Determination might seem feeble once written. It takes something like this film to reflect them in all of their meaning. So many stories have been told about reaching one's dream, but when you are set to make it happen for somebody else, someone you love, the outcome is bound to transmit that warm feeling deep inside that patches and redeems so many wrongs we witness most of the time. Then, you add Metallica to the formula and sparks start to fly...

I had a vague notion of the film's premise before watching "Mission To Lars" - an autistic man's dream to meet Lars Ulrich, drummer and founding member of Metallica.

The film has more in common with a Channel 4 reality TV series like "The Undateables" than anything that could be called "a documentary movie" - it's really a hour long glimpse into the world of the autistic condition known as "Fragile X Syndrome".

I guess you could liken it to a fly on the wall behind the scenes look at something like the Make-A-Wish foundation. Probably a great movie if you have an interest adult mental health, not so great if you are not interested in that.

I would have been quite intrigued to know more about Tom's fanatical love for Metallica, how it started, how it developed and how he managed to amass his excellent collection of memorabilia? At time the movie felt to me like a cynical springboard for the careers of Tom's brother & sister.

Ultimately the only part of the film i enjoyed is when Tom finally got to meet Lars - their interaction was heart warming. The rest of the film, is a boring if insightful look into the world of Fragile X Syndrome...

I think they could have done this better. Much of the documentary seems to rely on our empathy for the main person of the film, which is Tom who has a sort of mental handicap called fragile X, but even for those who aren't fed up with this kind of cheap pandering, they don't even dig deep into his condition. The film can't seem to decide which angle to go for... The fact that they're trying to meet Lars Ulrich of Metallica or how it is for this guy to live with his condition. I don't regret watching it or anything, it's okay for entertainment but could have been much better. Clocks at approx 75 mins.