Starring Greg Timmermans. In Dutch with English subtitles. Rated 14A. Opens Friday, April 18, at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas

As depicted in this dazzling debut from Belgian writer-director Nic Balthazar, there’s much going on in young Ben’s head but, thanks to his autism, little makes it to the outside world. His thoughts get sidetracked into minute visual observations, and he takes the ramifications of his words too far down the road to risk turning them loose. You could say he’s like a “normal” teenager, only more so.

At school, Ben (played by impressive newcomer Greg Timmermans) is called a Martian or a “retard” for his overly cautious, off-kilter responses. But playing his favourite swords-and-sorcery game on the home computer, under the screen name Ben X, he is master of the universe—a place also containing another player, who springs to life both as his fantasy girlfriend (pretty Laura Verlinden) and, potentially, a real one too.

He is relatively relaxed around his weary single mother (Marijke Pinoy) and typical little brother (Cesar De Sutter), but even there he’s not quite sure what is being asked of him. School is much worse. Teachers seem barely aware of his condition and students use it as a source of constant amusement.

Short, talking-head scenes are mixed with footage of daily life—seen from Ben’s agitated and highly coloured POV—and full-screen sequences of the computer game, with the boy and girl inside the violent action. Ben X’s ending, I’m happy to report, is drawn as much from the John Hughes playbook as it is from today’s headlines. When it comes to solid and provocative entertainment, not everything changes overnight.