With movies on Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking clogging up the awards race this season, it makes sense that a third film on an intellectual heavyweight would be lost in the shuffle. Or maybe it's the terrible title, X+Y, which sounds so much like a math equation it may only draw fans of first period Algebra. The fictional story stars Asa Butterfield (Ender's Game) as Nathan, an autistic math prodigy who sees his world opened up to new possibilities due to an influential teacher played by Rafe Spall. The story follows Nathan as he learns to cope with his disorder's challenges and earns trip to Taiwan for the International Mathematics Olympiad.
BAFTA award-winning director Morgan Matthews makes his feature debut, and the early buzz has seen a lot of praise for his crowd-pleasing work but also for Butterfield's performance. Also starring Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan, X+Y opens in the UK next March but has yet to gain a US date.
