Radioman

When Tom Hanks calls someone "a cultural institution", you tend to listen. But when that someone is an elderly, bearded, former down-and-out, who cycles around New York film sets with a boom box tied around his neck, has over 100 movie appearances to his name (usually as a background extra) and is known to the great and the good of Hollywood, then you want to know more. Radioman is Craig Castaldo, and he's the subject of this captivating, slice-of-life documentary. Cherished by such stars as Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Johnny Depp and Robin Williams (who would have been a shoo-in to play him in a biopic), this affable film fan (except when it comes to the subject of Sean Penn) muses on his alcoholism, homelessness and spell in Belle Vue. But what really comes across here is the amiable eccentric's genuine love of movies and movie-making. Even his experience of the dog-eat-dog antics of paparazzi and autograph hunters can't curb Radioman's enthusiasm on a trip to LA to attend the Oscars ceremony. The film is short and sweet, but an insightful and refreshingly positive experience, too.