Review of A Beautiful Mind (2001) by Alasdair B — 18 Apr 2015

John Forbes Nash is an American mathematician and a Nobel Memorial Prize winner. His equations are used in economics, computing, evolutionary biology, politics, accounting, artificial intelligence, and military strategies. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young man. "A Beautiful Mind" is an official biopic of his life. It is directed by Ron Howard and stars Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, and Christopher Plummer.

The biopic follows the life of John Nash (Crowe). He arrives at Princeton University to study math and science. Nash is a very unpleasant, rude, and prideful young man. He tends to rub people the wrong way. However, he and his roommate Charles Herman (Bettany), seem to get along just fine. Nash's objective is to publish his own original idea. He eventually does this, and some years later, finds himself called to the Pentagon to crack a code. While teaching, he meets a young women named Alicia Larde (Connelly). They fall in love and are soon married. Around this time, Nash is confronted by William Parcher (Harris), a member of the United States Department of Defense. Parcher gives him code breaking assignments, and Nash soon begins to cover his office walls with papers, pictures, and yarn to connect the dots. He is oblivious to the fact that he is a paranoid schizophrenic, and soon must face the harsh reality that his illness is having a negative effect on his family.

Russell Crowe is an extraordinary actor. He has been one of my favorites for a long while. His performance in this film is quite good. It may be one of his best in his career. He plays the bright young man at Princeton very well, and the paranoid side also very well. It was like watching someone become a character. I didn't see Russell Crowe, I saw John Nash. This film is full of great talent, including Ed Harris-despite his brief role-who is very good in the movie. Paul Bettany-an actor I can never get enough of-is fantastic in his role as well. However, Crowe steals the show, and is one of the best aspects of this film.

Ron Howard is a very good director, and he directs this film very well. Akiva Goldsman did a brilliant job with the screenplay as well. The dialogue and characters felt very real and natural. I felt as if I got to know each character in the film. They felt like actual people, and not just actors and actresses reading lines. I must also note that the cinematography is absolutely beautiful, thanks to the master of cinematography, Roger Deakins. Each shot was well lit, well framed, and gorgeous to look at. From direction, writing, camera work, to production design, this film impresses.

Despite all of this praise, I must point some things out. The film has been criticized-and praised-on a number of things. When you make a biopic, it's hard to stay true to every single detail of the story. In this case, there were a number of changes and omissions left out of the film. For example, Nash did some things early in his life that were questionable. He left his first wife after she had his first child, and did other reprehensible things. He was also responsible for many of the great mathematical and economical breakthroughs of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

"A Beautiful Mind" is a well acted, well written, and superbly directed film. It's full of emotion and at its core is a beautiful story. Despite these things, it's also too long, and is somewhat untrue to the real story. I will say this, the imagery used to show what was going on in his mind was really creative and it worked well.