A Beautiful Mind

He saw the world in a way no one could have imagined
He saw the world in a way no one could have imagined

A BEAUTIFUL MIND (15)

D: Ron Howard
Universal/Dreamworks/Imagine (Ron Howard & Brian Grazer)
USA 🇺🇸 2001
134 mins
 
Biopic/Drama
 
W: Akiva Goldsman [based on the book by Sylvia Nasar]
DP: Roger Deakins
Ed: Mike Hill & Dan Hanley
Mus: James Horner
PD: Wynn Thomas
 
Russell Crowe (Josh Nash), Ed Harris (William Parcher), Jennifer Connelly (Alicia Nash), Paul Bettany (Charles Herman), Adam Goldberg (Sol), Judd Hirsch (Helinger), Christopher Plummer (Dr. Rosen) 
 
*Spoilers*
Though it was marketed as a thriller, this is nothing of the sort, but still, it should be watched knowing very little about it before having any potential surprises ruined by a film review.
Biopic of the brilliant Nobel prize winning mathematician John Nash, who unknowingly suffered from schizophrenia which caused him paranoid delusions and obsessions, causing strain upon his marriage and other relationships.
Russell Crowe is absolutely fantastic in a role he really should have won an Oscar for (he won the previous year for Gladiator) and Jennifer Connelly is equally impressive as a student at Princeton who he later married.
The film is very much in the style of the biopics of the 1930's (The Life Of Emile Zola, The Story Of Louis Pasteur, etc.), giving a simple narrative to a very complex subject.
A lot is missing from the biography by Sylvia Nasar, most notably Nash's bisexuality and divorce/remarriage, but this is understandable for the dramatic structure and length of the film.
Oscar winner for Best Picture 2001.
8/10

Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind
Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind
Did You Know:
The film was shot in sequence in order to help Russell Crowe develop a consistently progressive manner of behaviour.