| A Beautiful Mind |
| 2001, Universal. Directed by Ron Howard. Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Paul Bettany, Christopher Plummer, and Judd Hirsch. Rated PG-13 for disturbing depictions of schizophrenia, some violence, and crude dialogue and language. |
| Grade: A- |
| Review by Anthony |
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| Russell Crowe outdoes even his performance as Maximus the Gladiator in this very well-made film based on a true story. Crowe plays John Nash, a mathematical genius. The film starts out at John's college days, during which he comes up with a mathematical breakthrough, which earns him much recognition. He goes on to become a professor, and he eventually gets married. Then we find out that John has schizophrenia. He sees people and things that aren't really there. This revelation abruptly changes the whole pace of the movie because we realize that people throughout John's life never existed and even that events in his life never happened. John is given medication in order to make these delusions go away, but he can't bear to take it because of its numbing side-effects. So he simply decides that this is just another problem that he can solve on his own. The acting in this film was excellent. Rusell Crowe definitely deserved the Actor of the Year Oscar for this one, in my humble opinion. Jennifer Connelly was also very good as John's loyal wife Alicia. And least but not least, credit must be given to Ron Howard for his great job at directing the movie. He has the ability to completely take us by surprise and leave us in disbelief. He makes us feel for John and his wife and sympathise with their horrible circumstances. The film alters some of the elements in John Nash's biography (also called A Beautiful Mind), most significantly the fact that his marriage wasn't always so tight (they actually divorced but later married again). Even if the movie isn't true to real life, I think that its changes make for a better movie. John and Alicia's love and loyatly to each other are important themes to the movie, and seeing this love and loyalty is much more enjoyable than seeing a more strained marriage. A Beautiful Mind is both heart-breaking and heart-warming. It interests you, overwhelms you, and moves you (almost all at once). It's a good film for anyone (as long as they're old enough to handle the sometimes intense and disturbing scenes of mental illness). |