Nathan (Asa Butterfield), 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.

Saying Nathan is socially awkward might be a bit of a disservice to him but that’s how IMDb phrased it. In actuality Nathan is Autistic. He’s quiet and likes things a certain way, he loves maths but isn’t good at physical touch. Autism is a spectrum and while Nathan is certainly reserved in social situations, it’s almost like he can pass it off as being shy, especially compared to Luke (Jake Davies). Luke is also on the British squad and he’s the almost stereotypical type of Autistic character. He doesn’t get any social cues, is abrupt and doesn’t fit in. At times it feels like X+Y is showing that Nathan’s Autism is the “acceptable” or “good” version when compared to Luke, especially as other boys on the team make comments about Luke and how obvious it is that he’s Autism to Nathan’s face, showing they haven’t picked up any supposedly obvious traits from him.

It’d be interesting to here from Autistic people to see how good or bad a job the filmmakers and actors did with regards to Autism. Both young actors are pretty great but how truthfully each of their depictions are, I’m not sure.

X+Y is as much Nathan’s story as it is his mum, Julie’s (Sally Hawkins). She struggles to connect with her son and she’s still grieving for her husband who died in an accident when Nathan was younger. As Nathan starts to make connections, noticeably with rival Chinese mathematician Zhang Mei (Jo Yang), it allows him to open up more and between them he and his mother start to bridge the gap between them.

X+Y is a bit of a formulaic film and hits a lot of the usual narrative beats but the stellar British cast does a good job at elevating it most of the time. X+Y is one of those films that’s tinged with melancholy and hope and is decent though predictable. 3/5.