X+Y

Inspired by a true family depicted in his 2007 documentary ‘Beautiful Young Minds’, director Morgan Matthews is making his feature film debut with ‘X+Y’. Obviously a passion project in term of the story, Matthews’ foray into the world of fiction has sadly taken a wrong turn trying to make these characters extraordinary and give reasons for being the way that they are, when instead he should have trusted his documentarian instincts and let these people be ordinary, therefore extraordinary.

Quite frankly, I found the winding backstories distracting from the real emotional connections happening in front of our eyes. More than anything I wanted the story to focus more of the mother - how that woman managed to get up every morning being a single mother to a son she can’t connect with, isn’t given any signs of physical or emotion affection, who’s told daily by the one she loves that she’s stupid and can’t do anything right, and then when she finally finds a “friend” he himself is a ticking time-bomb who can’t have sex. Geez, I’m exhausted just writing about it and just want to cry for her. Where’s that movie!? I don’t care about maths. Nathan learning that he’s not the smartest person who ever lived and garners some humility deserves a slow clap and *gasp* love does not cure autism.

‘X+Y’ hits a lot of emotional cue points and is held up by three great performances, but ultimately the film’s solution did not match its working.