The Boy Who Could Fly
Dir: Nick Castle
1986
****
Nick Castle directed two of the greatest 80's films ever made; The Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly. The Last Starfighter was heavily influenced by the Star Wars saga, The Boy Who Could Fly however was more influenced by the books of Judy Blume and the Batteries not Included series by Seth McEvoy, indeed Jay Underwood would star in the lead role in both The Boy Who Could Fly and the TV movie version of Batteries not Included. The Boy Who Could Fly, it is safe to say, was aimed at young girls, although I've never met a girl who liked it as much as I did. It's the story of a young family (Mum, daughter and young son) who move to a new town following the suicidal death of the terminal father. While the mother engrosses herself in her new job and young son (The Wonder Year's Fred Savage) takes his mind off his grief by setting scores with the neighbourhood's bigger kids, Milly befriends the mysterious boy who lives next door. Eric is mute and suffers from autism and is largely ignored and misunderstood by the other kids at school. He has lived alone with his uncle (played by Herman Munster himself, Fred Gwynne) since his parents died in a plane crash and spends most of his time in his room or sitting on the roof of his house. The quiet and mysterious notions of attraction are pushed to their limits here and the fantasy elements probably should have stayed fantasy to give the story a bit of integrity but then this is a film about indulgence. It feeds the melancholic moods of adolescence, it's far to obvious to be emotionally manipulative, one has to simply indulge themselves in the schmaltz and fly.