Mission to Lars (2012). Documentary. Pictured: Tom Spicer. Kate and Will Spicer's brother, Tom, has Fragile X Syndrome, the most common form of inherited learning disability. He is also a massive fan of Lars Ulrich from Metallica. They made a promise to Tom that they would get him to meet Lars. Tom's dream is their promise. Together they went on a Mission to Lars.
A British brother and sister take their heavily autistic 40-year-old brother on a cross-Atlantic trip to America to meet his loud-music hero, the drummer Lars Ulrich of Metallica. The metal band's most ominous song is Enter Sandman; the quirky documentary Mission to Lars could be subtitled Enter Rain Man.
The road trip promises to reconnect a filmmaking brother and journalist sister with institutionalized Tom, who suffers from fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition described by sis as "a sort of autism with bells on." Tom is easily unnerved, which causes drama as his condition makes the film's mission difficult to accomplish. The backstage payoff is sweet, but short and incomplete. We're not sure what sister and brother ultimately learned about their much different sibling, and one is left with the feeling the trip was more in service of the film's narrative than a dream-fulfilling jaunt for Tom.
Brad Wheeler