News
Books
Writing
Hobbies
Gallery
Links
Email Brian
Email Kerri
Unless otherwise noted,
all material on Heromaker.net
is written by Brian Murphy
© 2006.
Review Archive
FILMS
A Beautiful Mind (2001)(Fair spoiler warning: If you don't know what this movie is about, or haven't yet seen it, then I suggest you not read this review, as I plan on talking about the film in it's entirety and am most likely going to give away spoilers. You'll be doing yourself a favor by seeing the film first. There are a few nice twists and turns and surprises in A Beautiful Mind and I'd hate to be "that guy" who ruined a movie for you. Consider yourself warned.)
When I stepped into the theater to watch A Beautiful Mind I thought I was going to see a movie about espionage and cryptography. I had remembered the trailers from months before, and one of the lines that stuck in my head was Ed Harris saying to Russell Crowe, "You're the best nature code-breaker I've ever seen." This movie is about math, but only peripherally so.
Not knowing that the film was about a schizophrenic math genius is not a fault of the advertising or lack of media attention. The onus is entirely upon me.
Had I bothered to read anything online or in the newspaper about this film, or bothered to read up on the real John Nash then I would've immediately discovered that this film was more about Nash's battle with a mental disorder than his abilities as a mathematical theorist. So as you can see, I was understandably shocked when, as the plot unfolds, there are no Russian spies trying to kill Nash (Crowe), and Ed Harris is just a figment of Nash's imagination. Nothing more than a delusion. What's even funnier is, long after the plot has given away the fact that there aren't KGB after Nash, and that Nash isn't involved with espionage, I'm still sitting there, desperately trying to figure out who is setting him up. Is it his wife? Is she a double agent? I know there are Russians manipulating things. There's got to be. I bet the U.S. Government is setting him up as the patsy for something nefarious.
When I realized my mistake, I blushed in embarrassment. But the theater was dark, so no one noticed.
But I don't mean register this lack of knowledge as a complaint. No, no. I enjoy watching movies of which I know nothing about. It's just not something to which I'm accustomed. These days it's virtually impossible not to know loads of information about an upcoming movie, especially since I'm employed in the entertainment field. Reviews and opinions and plot synopses sneak their way into my brain, seemingly without my consent. So like I said: it's not the film's fault that I had no idea what the story was about.
And that's probably a good thing. Too often when venturing out to the local Googolplex Cinemas do we already know the plot of a film. Isn't that the point of going to see a movie—to find out what the story is? To travel with a set of characters through a conflict? Behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews with actors and directors always mean more after you've seen the movie, anyway.
I've heard it rumored that if A Beautiful Mind is to be taken as a docudrama of Nash's life, it does an appallingly poor job; however, if you're considering it as a story "loosely based" on the life of a real math genius, then there's no problem. Whether it's factual or not, I don't really care. I don't plan on writing a biography on Nash, and it doesn't matter to me whether he was bisexual or adulterous or nuttier than a fruitcake. What's important to me is that Crowe and director Ron Howard have made a movie worth watching.
In Gladiator Crowe's the action hero, flexing his Spaniard muscles and kicking everyone's ass. In A Beautiful Mind he plays John Nash, flexing his cerebral cortex to become a great mathematician. He meets Alicia (Connelly) and a romance ensues. It's hard not to like Crowe's Nash, a man who is very up-front with himself, in that, he knows that people don't like him. Even says so on a number of occasions. I don't believe he's completely comfortable with the fact, but there's a tone of resignation in his voice that almost indicates that some things are what they are, and you can't change them. But it's also works as a self-deprecating endearment. He says people don't like him, which makes us want to prove him wrong.
Nash is diagnosed as paranoid-schizophrenic, but the movie is filmed in a such a way that when this happens, it pulls the rug out from underneath the audience. We find out that people he's been talking to through the entire film are not there. I saw an interview with Ron Howard where he said that the line between genius and madness starts to fray. Fray indeed, Ron.
Jennifer Connelly has never interested me much until I saw this movie. She evokes strength and security through her character Alicia, traits that are vital for Nash if he is to survive his disease. She's also pretty easy on the eyes.
Ed Harris does a wonderful job playing the government agent. No surprise here, as Harris is good in most everything he does. His character, Parcher, is quick and smart and cruel. Even though he's only a delusion, he still scared the crap out of me. Harris, however, is not that easy on the eyes.
This is a good movie. I felt that it was at times slow; however this may be because I kept expecting more action in what is, essentially, a drama—but I didn't know that it was a drama. Again, my fault.
I'm not entirely sure that Nash's mind is beautiful as the title indicates, or perhaps (and I'm just now considering this, even as I type these words), the title could be referring to his wife, a mind that can see past all of her husband's lunacy to a man she loves.
If for no other reason, I'd recommend seeing this film to check out the old-people makeup that Connelly and Crowe wear in the last ten minutes of the film. Probably some of the best, most convincing effects I've seen in a long time. But, luckily, that's not the only reason to see A Beautiful Mind.
|