You'll believe a disabled man can fly in this uplifting tale of a care-home resident with cerebral palsy who realises his dream of becoming a hang-glider pilot. Unlike Inside I'm Dancing, though, Cloud Cuckoo Land casts a genuinely disabled actor in the lead. Meet Steve Varden, a Paralympic medal-winner and qualified flyer with the same speech and mobility difficulties as his plucky protagonist.
Though his occasional unintelligibility may be off-putting for some viewers, there's no denying Varden delivers a compelling and heartfelt performance. The problems with Matt Dickinson's lo-fi Brit-flick lie more with the aggressive sentimentality of his somewhat heavy-handed direction and a treacly whimsy that coats everything from the lovingly shot Lake District locations to Derek Jacobi's kindly grandfather.
Still, it's hard to pick holes in a film that combines inspirational drama with a pertinent social message and tackles the taboo subject of disabled sexuality with tact and compassion.
NOVERDICT
