History Film / TheBoyWhoCouldFly

* DisabledLoveInterest: Eric, for Milly

* {{Flight}}: Played with as to whether Eric can fly or not. He can.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Eric is autistic but in many ways the ManicPixieDreamGirl to Milly and, oh yeah, that flying thing isn't some derangement but an actual superpower that triggers eventually.

* NightmareFuel: Believe it or not, there is a definite dash of MoodWhiplash. Milly suffers a concussion after trying to pick a rose for Eric while standing on a bridge during a field trip. In the hospital, she has a dream sequence where Eric takes her flying, out towards the clouds, dodging a shooting star, all very romantic. Milly then floats back into her room... where she finds the sheet being pulled over the head of her father's corpse by an AlphaBitch seen earlier in the film badmouthing Eric. She then produces a dodgeball and sends Milly back down to Earth. If you weren't expecting it, it will terrify you.

* PuppyDogEyes: Eric & Milly's sad-puppy faces would be right at home in an ASPCA advert.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Louis is played by Fred Savage, a year before Film/ThePrincessBride and two years before Series/TheWonderYears. Milly's friend Geneva is played by [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Mindy Cohn]].

* StockShoujoBullyingTactics: Eric is ignored at school, Louis is attacked by local boys.
* SuicidalGotcha: Sort-of. When Eric and Milly find themselves cornered at a rooftop by the mental hospital people, they jump off together... and then they start ''actually'' flying.

* PuppyDogEyes: Eric's sad-puppy face would be right at home in an ASPCA advert.

[[caption-width-right:350: ''Love is never where you find it. All you need is that very first kiss and you're walking on air.'']]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: [[ButNowIMustGo Eric flies away and disappears]], and Milly stays while living her life and [[IWillWaitForYou waiting for his return]]. (In the meantime Louis stands up to his bullies, Milly's mom adapts herself to work, and Uncle Hugo stops drinking). But the last scene all but states that Eric comes back to her.]]

* DisabilitySuperpower: [[spoiler: Eric REALLY can fly...]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:It's revealed that Milly and Louis's father did not die from cancer, but killed himself shortly after the diagnosis.]]

* {{Flight}}: Played with as to whether Eric can fly or not. [[spoiler: He can.]]

* SuicidalGotcha: [[spoiler: Sort-of. When Eric and Milly find themselves cornered at a rooftop by the mental hospital people, they jump off together... and then they start ''actually'' flying.]]

* UrineTrouble: [[spoiler: Louis defeats the neighborhood bully with a squirt gun full of piss.]]
* TheVoiceless: Due to his refusal to socialize with others, Eric never speaks. [[spoiler: The first actual words he says are his LoveConfession to Milly.]]

* NightmareFuel: Believe it or not, there is a definite dash of MoodWhiplash. In a dream sequence, Eric takes Milly flying, out towards the clouds, dodging a shooting star, all very romantic. Milly then floats back into what she thinks is her window... only to reveal it as a hospital room, where she finds the sheet being pulled over the head of her father's corpse by a [[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Nurse Ratchet]]-esq orderly who then produces a medicine ball and sends Milly back down to Earth. If you weren't expect it, it will terrify you.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Louis is played by Fred Savage, a year before Film/ThePrincessBride and two years before Series/TheWonderYears.

* HollywoodAutism: Eric
%%* InspirationallyDisadvantaged

* NightmareFuel: Believe it or not, there is a definite dash of MoodWhiplash. Eric takes Milly flying, out towards the clouds, dodging a shooting star, all very romantic. Milly then floats back into what she thinks is her window... only to reveal it as a hospital room, where she finds the sheet being pulled over the head of her father's corpse by a [[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Nurse Ratchet]]-esq orderly who then produces a medicine ball and sends Milly back down to Earth. If you weren't expect it, it will terrify you.

* NightmareFuel: Believe it or not, there is a definite dash of MoodWhiplash. Eric takes Milly flying, out towards the clouds, dodging a shooting star, all very romantic. Milly then floats back into her window... only to find her father's corpse in her bed, the sheet pulled over his head by a [[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Nurse Ratchet]]-esq orderly who then produces a medicine ball and sends Milly back down to Earth. If you weren't expect it, it will terrify you.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: [[ButNowIMustGo Eric flies away and disappears]], and Milly stays while living her life and [[IWillWaitForYou waiting for his return]]. (In the meantime Louis stands up to his bullies, Milly's mom adapts herself to work, and Uncle Hugo stops drinking). But the last scene all but states that Eric comes back to her.]]

* [[spoiler: DisabilitySuperpower: Eric REALLY can fly...]]

* [[spoiler: InspirationallyDisadvantaged]]

* [[spoiler: SuicidalGotcha: Sort-of. When Eric and Milly find themselves cornered at a rooftop by the mental hospital people, they jump off together... and then they start ''actually'' flying.]]

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: [[butNowIMustGo Eric flies away and disappears]], and Milly stays while living her life and [[IWillWaitForYou waiting for his return]]. (In the meantime Louis stands up to his bullies, Milly's mom adapts herself to work, and Uncle Hugo stops drinking). But the last scene all but states that Eric comes back to her.]]

Milly soon meets her neighbor Eric, an autistic child living with an alcoholic uncle named Hugo. He never socializes with others, hasn't spoken at all, and sometimes raises his arms in the air to pretend to be an airplane. As soon as the two meet, Eric and Milly warm up to each other and become fast friends. However, with Hugo's alcoholism and Eric's strange behavior, Eric could be taken away to a hospital at any moment. Furthermore, a couple of strange incidents makes Milly start to believe that Eric might really have the ability to fly...

* [[spoiler: DisabilitySuperpower]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:It's revealed that Milly's father did not die from cancer, but killed himself shortly after the diagnosis.]]

* TheVoiceless: Due to his refusal to socialize with others, Eric never speaks.

* SpoilerTitle: Take a wild guess what the "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin amazing secret" in the tagline is.

* {{Glurge}}: Oh ye Gods. [[http://madnessmonster.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/boy-who-could-fly-review/ This review]] from an ex-Troper suggests that "Anyone wondering why there is a surprisingly large number of Emo kids on the Interwebs with a distressingly clueless view of what it means to be on the Autism Spectrum would do well to dig this chestnut up," since it was so popular with classrooms back in [[TheEighties the day]].

Amelia "Milly" Michaelson and her family has had a rough year. The father of the family had passed away, causing the family to move to a new neighborhood. Milly and her brother Louis have a rough time adjusting to their new schools and their mother's return to the workforce has her working with a computer that she can't figure out.

* Flight: Played with as to whether Eric can fly or not. [[spoiler: He can.]]

* The Voiceless: Due to his refusal to socialize with others, Eric never speaks.

Amelia Michaelson and her family has had a rough year. The father of the family had passed away, causing the family to move to a new neighborhood. Amelia and her brother Louis have a rough time adjusting to their new schools and their mother's demotion has her new job involve working with a computer that she can't figure out.