Warning - grown up and mature reviewing ahead
Introduction
Lately, I have become rather underwhelmed by blockbuster films. They are becoming so try-hard and full of computer wizardry and the people are not in the environment in which we can see - they are standing in front of a green wall pretending that they are being shot at by an alien with a ray gun. Yes, I do still like these sort of films because they manage to awaking a primordial excitement and remove us from the daily reality of working in an office and eating a tuna sandwich for lunch. However, I have started to think a bit differently and now I try to find some films that have received little publicity, have had their premieres at tiny little film festivals like Sundance, focus on real world issues and situations, whilst still managing to spark something deep in our heads. This latest film discovery is something that tackles an issue rather close to my heart - Autism. As soon as I saw the word ‘Autism’ in the description of the film, I was immediately interested to compare our experiences with something portrayed in film and to see whether the film makers had spent enough time trying to understand the condition. Had they over dramatised it, made it seem rather silly or had they managed to grasp the vast spectrum of this condition in a film?
A Film Only Review
x+y
Released: March 2015
Directed by: Morgan Matthews
Produced by: David M. Thompson
Written by: James Graham
Music: Keaton Henson
Distributed by: Koch Media
Running Time: 1h 51m minutes
The film was created by BBC Films so as such, it was publicly funded
Main Cast & Characters
Asa Butterfield Natan Ellis (Known for Enders Game and Nanny McPhee)
Rafe Spall Martin Humphreys
Eddie Marsan Richard
Sally Hawkins Julie Ellis (Nathan’s Mum)
Jo Yang Zhang Mei
The Plot
There will be some minor spoilers, however, I will attempt to keep them to minimum, although due to the style of film, these should not affect your viewing pleasure
The Storyline
Nathan is a young boy with a bit of a difference. He is a genius and is autistic and sits on the high functioning scale of the condition. Simply put, Nathan has an incredible aptitude for mathematics and knowledge and whilst he spends the days being utterly adored by his incredibly doting father who loves Nathan and fully accepts and nurtures his condition, his mum, whilst loving her son immensely, struggles with the whole situation and doesn’t know how to relate to Nathan in the same way his dad can. Despite this, they are a deeply loving family and it is really is the epitome of a child being loved regardless of any challenge put in front of them. One day, Nathan’s father is devastatingly killed in a car accident leaving Nathan and his mum utterly lost - although, Nathan does not fully grasp the extent of what has transpired because as someone with Aspergers (high functioning autism), he can’t process emotion and express it. So to outsiders, it appears like
Pictures of x+y (DVD)
he doesn’t care.
Over time, we see the fact that Nathan has an uncanny ability to understand the patterns of mathematics and Nathan’s mother is informed as such that he is indeed gifted and that this ability should be honed and nurtured in order to compete in the International Mathematics Olympiad - a competition for children world wide with similar abilities to Nathan. The job of coaching Nathan is bestowed to a maths tutor called Martin who once himself, competed in the Olympiad. This is where the strange relationship is laid out in that Martin is sensitive to Nathan, but rather self loathing and has effectively let go of his life and feels like his life has ended due to the onset of multiple sclerosis. However, despite the total opposites in personalities, they strangely get on and it is obvious Martin sees something of himself in Nathan and almost wants to remedy some of his failed ambitions through him. So, after coaching Nathan and being accepted into the qualifying sessions for the IMO by UK coach Richard (Eddie Marsan), Nathan heads off to Chinese Taipei where Nathan will not be gifted or outstanding by any stretch - surrounded by lots of similarly gifted people, Nathan will be ordinary - but will this affect him and will he be able to handle such a situation and will being coached by Martin give him the knowledge and skill and the emotional strength to qualify for the Olympiad?
Evaluation of x+y
I am not going to deny this, but many people will read this and think it sounds incredibly dull. A story about a clever teenager, who struggles with emotions and attempts to be coached in high end mathematics to enter a Mathematics competition? It sounds as uninteresting as a dry cracker. But the thing is, it isn’t uninteresting. The simple fact is, this film so completely driven by emotion and human feeling, that it wakens up something deep in the head that really epitomises what humans are all about. Humans are all different and everyone’s brains are wired differently and this film is all about making us understand a bit about what autism is and that there is a vast spectrum of how it affects different people. In fact, the film draws together so many different characters and every single one has a different personality, and no two people are alike. It almost feels like that film makers have gone out of their way to display as many peoples emotions and intellectual ability as possible to make almost a human scale and there is a person in this film that every single viewer can identify with.
The way in which the subject has been tackled is quite simply beautiful, and sensitive and while watching x+y, I could not take my eyes of the screen for a second watching the incredible way Asa Butterfield portrays Nathan and compare his actions and thought processes to my own sons. Granted, Nathan sits right on the far end of the Autistic spectrum with some issues regarding repetitive actions, patterns and the need for regularity and routine, but in essence, these are all heightened and we recognised that the makers of this film have actually researched and honed this film to make it as accurately as they can and in my opinion, it is quite simply exceptional. In fact, I am so impressed with the acting and production of this film, I keep wanting to write snippets of other plot lines that would inevitably spoil the film, but while I will not do this, I feel it is important that while this film should not be considered an educational tool, it certainly should open up many peoples eyes to what autism is. In fact, the ending is simply divine and you cannot fail to smile and in fact the emotion may potentially overwhelm. It makes you feel - happy!
As well as the main plot of Nathan and his challenge the supporting cast have their own troubles and several sub plots featuring Martin and Nathan’s mum are well considered too and a nice addition and show a different side to Nathan’s story and provide a contrast especially with the fact that emotion is much more evident in Martin and Nathan’s mum.
The Filming and Effects
The filming is not blockbuster, nor is it green screened or messed with by an Apple Mac. It is honest to goodness, proper simple dramatic filming using normal cameras, normal people and follows a young boy on his emotional journey to finding himself. The fact is, there is nothing fancy about the filming. But it is beautifully shot, and expertly directed. Some scenes shot in Taipei are in fact beautifully colourful and reflect the premise of the film and whilst there are some rather subliminal scenes that may well come across as arty, they are suitable and are not damaging to the film - they are considered and well shot.
The Acting & Characters
This is without question, the best part about the film. The acting is superb - in fact in the case of Asa Butterfield, beautiful. Asa has quite clearly studied autism and the emoti