X+Y (2014)
Directed by Morgan Matthews
A socially awkward teenage math prodigy finds new confidence and new friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
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What critics compared X+Y to
Deconstructionist critics and mainstream moviegoers alike may find it difficult not to reference “Rain Man,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “David and Lisa” while describing the movie to potential ticketbuyers.
The title of Morgan Matthews ’ “A Brilliant Young Mind” all too obviously echoes that of Ron Howard ’s “ A Beautiful Mind ,” but although both films concern mentally challenged mathematics prodigies, they are otherwise almost exact opposites: where the 2001 multiple Oscar winner offered a compendium of Hollywood moviemaking strengths, this BBC Films import mainly serves up TV-style triteness and warmed-over clichés.
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Matthews uses his non-fiction BBC telefilm “Beautiful Young Minds” (2007), about the UK team vying for spots at the 2006 International Mathematics Olympiad, as the basis for his first fiction feature, which itself bears a strong comparison to Ron Howard’s Oscar winner “A Beautiful Mind.”
The externalization of the internal is a common method in many a math genus picture (Good Will Hunting and A Beautiful Mind used visual devices to simulate how the genus brain calculates information).
Martin is basically Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting, in other words, in the first of several echoes of that film.
Following in the footsteps of Good Will Hunting, Matthews, like Gus Van Sant, crafts strong compositions and effective montages to externalize the internal emotions of his characters while the story’s mix of social realism, humor and drama recall the best works of Stephen Frears.