IS THERE A FORMULA FOR LOVE?
Teenager Nathan Ellis (Asa Butterfield), who finds it hard to relate to people, is a maths prodigy competing for a place on Britain’s International Mathematics Olympiad team. The director’s first stab at fiction is an adaptation of his own documentary Beautiful Young Minds (2007), which followed several young, autistic maths geniuses. Turning this story into fiction has a ring of pointlessness to it because it’s hard to avoid what has become clichés of the genre; the real-life drama is more touching. Still, well made, with an effective low-key lead performance and good supporting efforts, especially by Rafe Spall.
2015-Britain. 111 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Morgan Matthews. Cast: Asa Butterfield (Nathan Ellis), Rafe Spall (Martin Humphreys), Sally Hawkins (Julie Ellis), Eddie Marsan, Jo Yang, Martin McCann.
Trivia: U.S. title: A Brilliant Young Mind.
