Nathan is English young boy with autism, which makes it hard for him to sympathize or understand people's feelings and behaviours. He's, however, very talented for math and is encouraged to pursue it by his always sarcastic advanced math class teacher, Martin.
The chance to prove himself and to try something different arrives when Nathan applies for a two weeks math training program in Taiwan. This program aims to find the best young mathematicians in the country and to make them compete at the International Mathematical Olympiad, which will take place in Cambridge, UK.
Even if his mom is a mix of proud and anxiety, she agrees to make Nathan go and so he flies overseas for the first time, along with the other members of the 'math delegation'. Once in Taiwan, he gets paired up with a Chinese girl, Zhang Mei, and gradually develops a close friendship with her as they spend their free time together wandering around the city.
After being both selected to represent their respective countries, they meet again on British soil, but by then something in Nathan has changed...
My Opinion👍👎
This is one of those indie movies who prove themselves to be true hidden gems...
Let's start with the cast: Asa Butterfield in incredible and believable while portraying such a difficult character as Nathan, but Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall make the perfect 'supporting' characters and it's beyond words how good they both are in this movie!
The story has its own (slow) pace, dialogues are secondary and it also gets kind of weird sometimes, but still is an enjoyable watching all the way to the end.
I'm no expert about autism, but I didn't feel like the topic was stereotyped or ridiculed, plus it is developed from different POVs which make it detailed and as complete as possible.
Let's start with the cast: Asa Butterfield in incredible and believable while portraying such a difficult character as Nathan, but Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall make the perfect 'supporting' characters and it's beyond words how good they both are in this movie!
The story has its own (slow) pace, dialogues are secondary and it also gets kind of weird sometimes, but still is an enjoyable watching all the way to the end.
I'm no expert about autism, but I didn't feel like the topic was stereotyped or ridiculed, plus it is developed from different POVs which make it detailed and as complete as possible.
Related Books & Movies
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Rain Man (1988)
Mercury Rising (1998)
Mozart and the Whale (2005)
Rating: 4½/5
Ph: impawards.com & isolatednation.com
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