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Ben X has ambition
28 August 2008
Belgian director Nic Balthazar’s debut feature has the excellent Greg Timmermans as an autistic young man who is badly bullied at school and relieves his frustrations by playing a computer game in which, being an expert at such things, he invariably wins. Apart from his distracted mother, he has one friend — a girl who comes to life for him from the net.
The film is ambitious enough to attempt to deal with autism, bullying and loneliness at the same time. It is based on a successful play and has won festival awards. But its convoluted plot and an ending which we are not sure is real or fantasy prevent it striking home as well as it might. Timmermans, however, holds it together well — even if Balthazar’s style renders it a bit of a heavy watch
Ben X
Cert: 15
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