LOS ANGELES — “A Brilliant Young Mind” is not the film you think it is. It’s better. Autism Daily Newscast first wrote about the film last March when it was first released in the UK under the name “x + y”.
The film tells the story of 17-year-old Nathan Ellis [played by Asa Butterfield] who has Asperger’s syndrome and who is a maths genius. The story follows Ellis as he embarks on a maths tournament, and falls in love with a young Chinese girl. The film, although fictional, is based on Daniel Lightwing‘s life as a young boy growing up on the autistic spectrum.
In that review we asked the question:
So are films like this one helpful for the autism community?
Film can only tell one story, one perspective, so the whole spectrum of autism can never be truly portrayed in the telling of one specific story. But a more important question to ask is, should there be more films about individuals with autism who are on the other end of the spectrum? The answer is yes. It is time that they too have a voice. Below is another review from a more independent perspective.