The film is harrowing, if maybe a bit melodramatic, until it crashes and burns in a feel-good ending.
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12/29/08
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Ben X (2008)
67
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:24
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Thoughtful and provocative Dutch film concerned with autism, online gaming and bullying, though loses steam in the final act.
Theatrical Release:Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Ben is different and his life is a universe all unto itself. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication, and while he is a courageous hero—BEN X—in the... [More]
Starring: Greg Timmermans, Marijke Pinoy, Laura Verlinden, Greg Goossen
Director: Nic Balthazar
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Reviews for Ben X
Top CriticIt's not the overarching naturalism of the performance that stands out but the conceptual breakdown of the portrayal into smaller, loosely connected segments.
04/18/08
Top CriticThere are lessons to be learned, but rarely have such lessons been transformed into such vivid and emotionally affecting drama.
02/26/09
Ben X's brand of reality [is] as vital as it is virtual.
07/03/08
The next it has cast all narrative sense to the winds as it grabs desperately at a triumphant (even feel-good) ending. So much good work, undone at a stroke.
08/29/08
There's not a moment of warmth or ease in Ben X, Nic Balthazar's punishingly cacophonous debut.
10/24/08
Top CriticGreg Timmermans gives an exemplary performance as the title character, making his withdrawn loneliness a palpable thing.
03/12/09
Writer/director Nic Balthazar, adapting his own novel, would fool most as a first time filmmaker, as "Ben X" compellingly pulls one into Ben's world...
03/02/09
There's an especially important central theme to this striking teen drama that gives the film a potent urgency.
08/29/08
Flawed, but a forceful debut from a promising director.
08/29/08
It has its moments of triteness but by and large Ben X is provocative, moving and effective. It's a refreshingly different film that cleverly uses aspects of game culture to tell and intriguing story and confront difficult social problems.
08/29/08
An acute sense of foreboding animates this ambitious Dutch drama; clearly, something’s about to go very badly wrong.
08/29/08
Balthazar's aesthetic is ugly, aloof, maddeningly literal and unimaginative.
10/19/08
Undeniably a high-level achievement.
10/24/08
The Flemish dialogue is not the only distinction of Belgian Nic Balthazar's confident, fearless directorial debut.
11/21/08
[Director Nic] Balthazar's determination to draw a positive message from a negative situation doesn't quite fit.
12/05/07
Top CriticThe film’s moral, technological and psychological themes are glazed over, and the manner in which Ben finally conquers his personal demons is laughably overblown.
08/29/08
Nic Balthazar's morality tale is a shrewd exercise in expectation-subversion.
08/29/08
The ending is a letdown, as high-tech media mingles with old-school Christian imagery.
10/22/08
Ben X is about nothing and nothing.
08/29/08
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