Nathan is on the autism scale: though broadly functional, he finds emotional contact difficult, has OCD in certain areas, and so on: however, he is a maths prodigy and is sent to high school early to receive advanced maths tuition from Mr Humphrys, a mildly sardonic teacher in the early stages of multiple sclerosis. Humphrys sets Nathan on course for the British team in the International Maths Olympiad, for which he travels to Taipei and meets Zhang Mei, a non-autistic Chinese girl, also a maths whiz. We see Nathan tentatively exploring difficult areas, and also how other lives in his world change, too.
I had vaguely heard of this film, and was not expecting it to be anything special: it is. Sally Hawkins as Nathan's mum, coping on her own, is phenomenal, and Rafe Spall as Humphrys, blighted with his own problems, is nonetheless very human, both funny and touching. Eddie Marsan impresses me more with every film I see him in: Richard, the administrative head of Team GB is not a sympathetic part, but Marsan gives him some real heart. Jo Yang as Zhang Mei is a delight, and the kids generally are very good, but I must single out Jake Davies as the socially inept Luke Shelton, whose performance is heartbreaking. And this is Asa Butterfield's film. To some extent, giving a "disease of the week" performance is easy if all you seek to do is replicate the physical manifestation of the ailment. Butterfield here goes much, much deeper, and fulfils the early promise of Striped Shirt, Hugo et al.
If I were to be critical, I would say that the ending (which isn't entirely what I expected) could be accused of a little glibness, but that is being finicky. I cried, several times. This is great.
I had vaguely heard of this film, and was not expecting it to be anything special: it is. Sally Hawkins as Nathan's mum, coping on her own, is phenomenal, and Rafe Spall as Humphrys, blighted with his own problems, is nonetheless very human, both funny and touching. Eddie Marsan impresses me more with every film I see him in: Richard, the administrative head of Team GB is not a sympathetic part, but Marsan gives him some real heart. Jo Yang as Zhang Mei is a delight, and the kids generally are very good, but I must single out Jake Davies as the socially inept Luke Shelton, whose performance is heartbreaking. And this is Asa Butterfield's film. To some extent, giving a "disease of the week" performance is easy if all you seek to do is replicate the physical manifestation of the ailment. Butterfield here goes much, much deeper, and fulfils the early promise of Striped Shirt, Hugo et al.
If I were to be critical, I would say that the ending (which isn't entirely what I expected) could be accused of a little glibness, but that is being finicky. I cried, several times. This is great.