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Also titled A Brilliant Young Mind. An autistic teenage math whiz (Asa Butterfield) faces new challenges when he’s asked to join Britain’s team at the International Mathematics Olympiad. You’re thinking another “inspirational” movie with a Big Suspenseful Competition at the end. Refreshingly, no. He’s got the math down. It’s all that thorny human interaction he has to deal with that makes what could have played like a case study such a warm experience. In each scene, the film adroitly sidesteps clichés you think you see coming. I like that. Great cast includes Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan. (111 min)

Don Morton

Don Morton has viewed some 6,000 movies, frequently awake. A bachelor and avid cyclist, he currently divides his time between Tokyo and a high-tech 4WD super-camper somewhere in North America.