Tom Spicer is a 40 year old man who suffers from Fragile X. This is a genetic condition you may not have heard off but it is apparently not that rare as it affects 1 in 4000 men (and 1 in every 6000 women). In Tom’s particular case it manifests itself in serious impaired learning and single-minded obsessions which his sister Kate describes as ‘autism with knobs on’.
Tom has lived in a special residential care home in the English countryside for the past twenty years and seems fiercely happy in his daily routine that even includes a job recycling newspapers. He does however have one very passionate ambition and that is to meet Lars Ulrich the drummer of his beloved Metallica the world’s most successful heavy rock band. He repeats ‘Must meet Lars’ over and over again with such dogged determination that his two siblings decide to actually see if they could actually make it happen.
Kate Spicer is a London Journalist and her brother Will is a filmmaker and as both of them have let their relationships with Tom slide somewhat they look on this project as a way of being able to bond again as a family and provide a central focus that they could then all share as a memory going forward. After pitching the idea to TV networks and being turned down flat, the two still decided to press on alone filming every step of the way for this documentary even though they are clearly out of their depth simply coping with their brother’s moods, and with the enormity of the ambitious task.
The day before the three of them are actually due to fly to the USA to track down the Band, Tom throws a wobbly and totally disappears, and when he eventually re-appears announces that he no longer wants to go. The only person that he will respond too when he withdraws into one of his moods is his step-mother Jane and in this instance she does finally persuade him to go on with the planned trip.
Even though it his dream that they are trying to fulfill Kate and Will are never sure if Tom will ever go along with them no matter how successful they are in actually obtaining an audience with Lars himself. They take advice from the US’s leading expert on the Fragile X syndrome and she warns that even though Tom loves listening to heavy metal rock at home, the reality is that what he hears is the equivalent of ten times louder than we hear, so he may not simply be able to bear going to a live concert. He does actually refuse point blank to attend the Band’s Las Vegas Shows and the ones in San Diego, and it looks very seriously that he will also miss out on their last chance at their final appearance at Anaheim, but in the end he relents and goes.
The Spicers, and their co-director James Moore, keep the tension building as even when Kate and Tom arrive at the Stadium clutching the precious All Access Back Stages she has managed to persuade Lar’s people to give them, there is never any guarantee that they will actually ever meet the great drummer himself. Surprisingly they do and he is remarkably warm and generous which gives a very big heart-warming finish to this wee highly-personal and completely engaging tale.
The whole journey is tough on all three Spicers. It’s hard to completely comprehend the effect it has on Tom himself as although it’s easy to spot when he is really happy, he is extremely difficult to read when he wants no part of what’s going on around him. His siblings are stretched in ways they never imagined and although we are party to some scenes of their sheer frustration of trying to copy, they are careful not to ever share how this mission has really impacted them personally.
Why this movie took over three years to go from UK screens to ours in the USA is a mystery as this compelling compassionate tale will resonate with American audiences very well. Plus it also shows that heavy metal rock stars can also be real sweethearts too.
Tom Spicer is a 40 year old man who suffers from Fragile X. This is a genetic condition you may not have heard off but it is apparently not that rare as it affects 1 in 4000 men (and 1 in every 6000 women). In Tom’s particular case it manifests itself in serious impaired learning and single-minded obsessions which his sister Kate describes as ‘autism with knobs on’.
The Spicers, and their co-director James Moore, keep the tension building as even when Kate and Tom arrive at the Stadium clutching the precious All Access Back Stages she has managed to persuade Lar’s people to give them, there is never any guarantee that they will actually ever meet the great drummer himself. Surprisingly they do and he is remarkably warm and generous which gives a very big heart-warming finish to this wee highly-personal and completely engaging tale.
