In A Beautiful Mind, director Ron Howard almost, but not quite, discovers the magical formula in this his latest movie. Starring Golden Globe winner Russell Crowe, it is the tumultuous tale of Dr. John Nash - renowned US mathematician in the '40s and Nobel prize winner in the '90s - and his often painful mental and emotional battle with schizophrenia. As much as it is an intriguing insight into the torment of delusion and mental illness, it is also a touching story of love and devotion, primarily that of Nash's wife, Alicia, thoughtfully played by Jennifer Connolly of Pollock and Mulholland Falls fame.
The story itself is absolutely compelling, especially when Nash's mental 'creativity' enters the equation. It would alone be enough to hold one's attention for the 2 hour span of the film, but with the many faultless performances from the likes of Paul Bettany, Ed Harris and Christopher Plummer, the whole almost makes for a fantastic movie. Apart, that is, from the feeling that, besides one or two inventive directorial techniques, the
film all too often relies on Hollywood clich� and stock formulae in it's attempt to connect emotionally with its audience, and instead of subtlety and originality, it feels like it's dumbing-down to make its point. There are also a few cringeworthy moments which have should have been left on the cutting room floor (at one point on a starlit evening, Nash shows Alicia how to 'draw' a dot-to-dot umbrella using the stars, as if only someone with his incredible genius could do it - let's face it, he did have a couple of billion to choose from!). The one element that is rather subtle is the minimalist soundtrack by James Horner which perfectly compliments and often juxtaposes the visual action to great effect.
I've left Russell Crowe until last because his performance and his subsequent Golden Globe for Best Actor is mildly perturbing. There's no doubting that, yes, he can be an intriguing character actor - however, in this film I didn't really see it. His first entrance as Nash is a cross between Forrest Gump's social incompetence and the physical hyper-activity of Brad Pitt's loony from Seven Monkeys. He seems to lack the subtlety and
understanding that he gives the character in the second half of the movie, and sometimes his enunciation is so lazy, you simply miss the sense of what he is saying - fine if that is a trait of the real Nash, but not if it is at
the expense of the viewers' involvement in the film. The scenes were also filmed chronologically, which should have made Crowe's job much easier. I suppose in terms of awards, you can only be measured against your current competition. I can only assume then that Kevin Spacey's performance in The Shipping News was deemed to be uncharacteristically mediocre by the Golden Globe judges.
As the film follows 50 years of Nash's life, the make-up and costume departments were kept busy giving Nash a range of geek hairstyles and clothing, and later, dodgy prosthetic jowels to age him. However, because we
have seen what he has seen, we care enough about the destiny of the character of Dr. Nash not to be pedantic about these minor filmic technicalities - the mark of an interesting story being told by a competent screenplay. A Beautiful Mind is a good movie, and is far less syrupy and overwraught than it could have been. |
