The Boy Who Could Fly

(Nick Castle, USA, 1986)

Writer-director Nick Castle (The Last Starfighter, 1984) is – like many in Hollywood these days – a devoted, self-styled protégé of Steven Spielberg. His films carry the appropriate Spielbergian ingredients – cute animals, soaring soundtrack music, beams of heavenly light, and a piously Utopian ‘anything is possible if you want it strongly enough’ message. All set, obligatorily, against the assumed malaise of modern, suburban life.

However, this film – concerning an autistic teenager (Jay Underwood as Eric) who can secretly fly – will likely succeed in breaking down almost any viewer’s cynical resistance to Spielbergian material. Innocent romance blooms when Eric bonds with 14-year-old Milly (Lucy Deakins).

Castle, in only his third feature, proves himself a master of the poignant emotional gesture, delivered with prodigious cinematic skill. And, to paraphrase another big success of the Spielberg School, Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams (1989): “It’s unbelievable, and it’s perfect”.

MORE Castle: Hook, Mr Wrong

© Adrian Martin 8 June 1990