Special People

The old authors’ axiom ‘write what you know’ also applies to cinema, which is why movies about young filmmakers struggling to realise their vision are ten a penny. Debut director Justin Edgar  revisits all the clichés: the bolshy, inexperienced crew, the haemorraging budget, the inevitable on-set accident. The difference is that the filmmakers are physically disabled.

‘Special People’ follows pretentious, self-absorbed director-turned-special- needs educator  Jasper (Dominic Coleman) as he tries to enthuse his class of wheelchair users about cinema. Edgar and Coleman’s script nails the creative paralysis and self-delusion that afflicts many failed artists, and the patronising, self-aggrandising way they relate to those ‘worse off’. In terms of character development and story the film is unspectacular and often rather blunt – one final-act twist feels shoehorned in to shock. But this is a well observed and likeable slice of DIY cinema.