Review of X+Y (2014) by Alan W — 13 Oct 2014
This British drama starts sombrely, dramatically even, introducing characters that you want to care about. Thoughtful cinematography, especially when they were shooting in Taipei manages to get something rather poetic out of the concrete city landscapes.
The performances are good all round: the young cast led by Butterfield is effective, while whenever Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall (Constellations reunion) or Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky reunion) are on screen, you can't get enough of them.
But the tone is uneven as the film slides further into Brit/rom-com territory. The middle section, cutting between the different stories taking place in England and Taiwan, feels like 2 good movies stuck together with a bit of Pritt stick.
The unevenness in tone becomes all the more obvious as the ending kind of unravels: is it a love conquers all rom-com or a realistic look at autism? And what happened to that other movie about the mother and the mentor? Good efforts but not as compelling and satisfactory as I had hoped for.
This review of X+Y (2014) was written by Alan W on 13 Oct 2014.
X+Y has generally received positive reviews.
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