John Nash's world was all but normal. Forrest Gump's world was all but normal. The rain man's world was all but normal. "A Beautiful Mind" was engrossing, "Forrest Gump" was engrossing, and "Rain Man" was highly engrossing. Am I saying that these three movies are similar? Yes. I am saying these three movies are similar in that they all had the potential to get best pictures, best actor, and best director, and are all about a man with a type of unusual problem, disease or disability. "Rain Man" and "Forrest Gump" both fulfilled this potential, and "A Beautiful Mind hasn't yet had the chance. Although "A Beautiful Mind" is probably the least packaged of these, it still looks like the kind of picture to capture the Academy Award's attention by having them hand out Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Musical Score, and Best Picture to "A Beautiful Mind". This probably wouldn't be my first pick of the year but it is sure one in my Top Ten list. Russell Crowe plays John Nash, the mathematician that is very low in social skills. His only friends are his roommate, Charles, and later in the film, his wife, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly). What I like about Crowe choosing this particular role is that he humbled himself down from (in "Gladiator") playing the dignified, wanted as the Emperor of Rome, General/Gladiator, to playing the unpopular, Professor with a disease that makes him look even more stupid in society. Of course, he is excellent at playing every aspect of the character. Director, Ron Howard ("The Grinch", "Apollo 13") lets Russell go through a journey of pain, discovery, and revelation throughout the film. At some points I felt that Howard overdid the sentimental side of the movie by magnifying all of John Nash's heartaches times a thousand of his friend's tears flying all over, but overall, Howard let this film roll with his usual flare and perfect pacing. Nash becomes stressed out many times because of working so many different jobs. He was a teacher at M.I.T. and doing code breaking confidentially for a government agent in the story before he is diagnosed with a type of advanced case of schizophrenia, where a person has many paranoid hallucinations. His wife faithfully stays with him throughout his painstakingly hard struggle with schizophrenia, and at the end is awarded for all her dedication to John by his speech that he gave when he won the Nobel prize. He thanked her for all she had done for him and said that he wouldn't be here today without her. For John, this compliment was a change for him because all he did before that was insult people, and make them feel lower and less intelligent than he does. A psychiatrist (Christopher Plummer) befriends John Nash in the middle of the film, and tries to help him conquer over his schizophrenia. He might have helped a little but John really conquers it himself by just ignoring his hallucinations, and telling himself they aren't real. I would have liked to see God honored in this process, but that is too much too ask from a Hollywood film, so I will be happy with what is accomplished without him I guess. Russell Crowe isn't the only actor that shines in this picture. Although he has a harder and more complicated part to play, Jennifer Connelly is equally effective as playing his wife. Without these performances, the movie would have no clue how to go about addressing it's subjects, but with these two experts in their craft it goes where it should go, and stays out of where it shouldn't go. Some things were a little hokey in this and unbelievable, but not too many people would think about them in that sense. They would have no time to pause in the movie and recall what made sense and what didn't make sense because of the constantly flowing dialog of which mostly all is essential to the thickly plotted story of the film. It is rated PG-13 for some sexual content, a scene of violence and strong thematic material. In my opinion, this film would be ok for probably twelve-year-olds and up as long as they could handle the sadness that many times may bring very sensitive people to tears. The sexual dialog could be ignored because it isn't constant throughout the whole film. |
| A Beautiful Mind |
| ***1/2 stars |
| Rated PG-13 |
| United States, 2001 Running Length: 2:12 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Profanity, sexual situations, violence) Cast: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Vivien Cardone, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Christopher Plummer Director: Ron Howard Producers: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman, based on the book by Sylvia Nasar Cinematography: Roger Deakins Music: James Horner |