This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, when the film was titled "X + Y." It goes into limited release today.
There’s something impossibly charming about Morgan Matthews’ “ A Brilliant Young Mind,” his debut as a fictional feature-length narrative director. Much like the film’s core message and encompassing theme, this charm doesn’t come with an equation that leads to an easy solution, which only amplifies our satisfaction that much more. We do know, however, where the charm doesn’t come from: James Graham’s screenplay, full of simplistic formulas designed to turn on the waterworks and dip the picture in sweet, sentimental, syrup until it begins to shrivel up from all the glop. With the scales of sappiness too unbalanced, “A Brilliant Young Mind” is prevented from entering the higher echelons of family dramas explored from a child’s perspective. It’s no “About A Boy” or “Hugo,” but it still manages to rise well above the...
