Ben (Greg Timmermans) is a withdrawn Belgian teenager with Asperger’s syndrome who is relentlessly bullied by his classmates; Ben X is his online alter ego, who stalks the pixelated wilds of the popular role-playing game Overlord, sword in hand.

There is pathos in this self-projection, but Nic Balthazar’s festival-­
circuit favourite (adapted from his own novel and play) doesn’t honestly explore second-life culture — or Asperger’s, for that matter. Instead, it uses them as topical hooks for a laboured revenge-of-the-nerd crowd-pleaser that fails to play fairly with the audience. 

The script dangles hints of Ben’s suicide early on, juxtaposing his mopey voice-over with vérité-styled, after-the-fact interviews that portend tragedy. The chronological gamesmanship is a suspense-generating ploy as transparent as it is shameless. And that goes double for the introduction of a major character that may or may not really exist (the last refuge of the uninspired screenwriter). The integration of videogame graphics into the action is meant to put us inside Ben’s head, but we’re always aware of Balthazar, at the controls, pushing his various hot buttons.