X+Y is a British film which premièred last year at the London Film Festival and was shown in UK cinemas in early March 2015. It is based on a documentary shown in 2007 called Beautiful Young Minds. The story tells of Nathan who was diagnosed as autistic as a young child. The socially awkward teenage maths prodigy finds new confidence and new friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The film stars Sally Hawkins as Nathan’s mother, Rafe Spall as his mathematics teacher, and talented young Asa Butterfield, as lead character Nathan.
This is a heart-warming and charming drama such that I have not seen for a long time. After being diagnosed at an early age as him having a unique gift, Nathan and his father was involved in a car accident that results in tragedy. There are a lot of flashback memories of his father and Nathan and how he had impacted in his life. Nathan’s mother feels helpless at helping him and struggles to understand why her son won’t open up to her nor give her any affection.
As a maths genius, he soon assigned a maths teacher to work with, who is also an ex-IMO mathlete but his career was cut short due to his multiple sclerosis. A teenage Nathan then secures a place at the IMO where the team have to travel to Taiwan to train with the rest of the maths geniuses.
In the movie, Nathan used mandarin to speak to his fellow Chinese friends. I have to say that I am very impressed with Asa Butterfield’s Mandarin. He was able to speak mandarin with a really good natural accent in the movie!
Not wanting to spoil the rest of the story, I will let you watch the rest for yourself. The story is brilliant and I would definitely recommend watching this heart-warming movie. The DVD was released on 13th July and is available to buy in good DVD stores and also Amazon.
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