[Ben X Review]The Twist That Saved a Movie

     In the Korean society that I grew up in extensive gaming was usually an act to be reprehended for. Ironically Korea is the country with the most game-addicts. Nevertheless, the social consensus is that gaming is in most cases a waste of time. That is why the story of Ben grabbed my attention in the beginning. For Ben, the world inside the game was where he could be normal and even strong compared to the other gamer's. The idea that for some people, like Ben, the gaming world could actually be helpful and even essential was an approach that I had never thought of. The portrayal of how Ben combines his gaming experience with the real world was also very effective.

     The one thing that continued to bother me though, was the vagueness of the theme. At the beginning I was interested about how the director related autism and the gaming world, but then the story went onto introduce a virtual friend. Up to that point, it was okay. However, when the story started to focus on bullying and suicide it was just too much. The themes are all related in a way, but essentially they are different. The effort to gather these themes together in one story is interesting but the movie failed to recognize them in a balanced way, thus creating confusion for the viewers.

     Although the theme was confusing and thus diluted my attention from time to time, the film itself was very successful in building up the suspense. The idea of autism was not only described through the narration but the way they took the film from the point of view of Ben in between allowed the viewers to really delve into the disorder. Such scenes intensified the suspense because the bullying was much harsher from Ben’s perspective. The cross-cutting of the game world and the real world also increased our understanding of Ben’s autism. Furthermore, the comparison of Ben’s solution to a situation in the real world to that of the game world was interesting because it emphasized his helpless state. Through all this, the director effectively established the suspense but even so, I was expecting nothing more than the typical resolution of either suicide or violent behavior. That’s why I was thrilled by the twist at the end.

     What seemed like a scene of suicide was actually an elaborate fabrication by Ben. The idea itself was creative and for me all the more enjoyable because of the unexpectedness. A victim getting revenge through fabricating his own death! How cool is that? For me, the last twist of the movie was enough to make up for vagueness caused by the overwhelming amount of things that the director put into the movie. The scene where he appears in front of the movie viewer at his own memorial service was my favorite. The way he surprised everyone in and out of the movie was like an unexpected present. Perhaps the surprise came so abruptly because I wasn't expecting much from the movie, but all the same, the ending was a real savior of the day.