Review of A Beautiful Mind (2001) by Liam C — 14 Mar 2015

I know everyone has already said this, but, 'A Beautiful Mind' really is a beautiful film. Within the first minute I was already absorbed into its world and the film would go on to be one of the most compelling and emotionally powerful films that I have ever seen. Ron Howard does an excellent job crafting this very intimate and heartbreaking tale and it's shocking to know that he made this right after making that Grinch movie, but then again, it just goes to show, once again, how varied his films are. I'm not trying to say I went in with low expectations, but this film could have easily been a cliché ridden mess that was very shallow and manipulative to just trick with the audience into getting an emotional reaction out of them. It could have had that scene where the character looks blankly into the sky with sappy music playing in the background and so much more, like another film that did that was released in 2001 where it's lead actor was nominated for an Oscar, but this film never does that as it is very genuine and real. The story is very smart and very well assembled and the filmmakers explained why they chose to do what they did whilst making it. I had no idea what was going to happen and after the first hour I was just so surprised with what happened next. The story also has a surprising amount of twists and turns that are very, very subtle and they add so much to the story and it all goes at an excellent pace that covers so much material.

The acting in this is perfect by everyone, Jennifer Connelly does an excellent job against Russell Crowe and, like Crowe, she was very nuanced and very powerful. I thought I was going to judge her performance a lot just because she won and Crowe didn't, and the debate of what quantifies Leading and Supporting is brought up once again, but she did do an excellent job and deserved it. Ed Harris and Paul Bettany were great, even though, at first, I wanted to see them in the film more, but I guess we don't really want that, we want them to be in the film as little as possible. Josh Lucas was excellent and had a very welcome amount of depth, in a lesser film like the type I just mentioned, his character, and the ones that hang around him, would have been very 2-dimensional, regardless if it's a biopic or not. And Christopher Plummer is great as usual and stars alongside Russell Crowe once more, in another biopic too. Speaking of Russell Crowe, he gives one of the best performances that has ever been put on film. They began production right after he won for 'Gladiator', and, funnily enough, in his speech he does a mannerism of John Nash Jr.. He has shown amazing versatility throughout his career and its especially noticeable if one saw 'Gladiator' before this and he completely owns the film and it's an absolute joke that he didn't win, what should have been, his second Oscar. In a film that won the awards it did and it not winning Beat Actor is unbelievable; I know that's happened before but with all Crowe did win, it's just crazy. I've said in the past that talent isn't, or to some people- shouldn't, be judged by awards, but c'mon! When someone puts the effort in and gives one of the best performances in history, it's just laughable he lost, and I'm not saying Denzel was bad, because he wasn't, but Russell Crowe was out of this world. Maybe I missed something and there is more behind his loss, but to win all the other major awards and not Oscar is strange, but it's happened before. However, when you look at who else won that night, it isn't really surprising why they chose who they did, people call it a 'make up' Oscar which isn't fair and the reason why they chose Denzel over Crowe is solidified in Denzel's speech. Connelly probably wouldn't have won either if she was indeed nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, but hey, who knows, and Robert Redford won an Honorary Oscar as well so maybe I'm full of rubbish. Sorry to sound like a conspiracy nut but when there is a website dedicated to this subject of Crowe's snub, you know that they messed up terribly. This was the final Oscar snub in a series of knock-on effect losses, that came in full effect in 1992 but started long before then, and some would argue that this loss was the most tragic. Doesn't matter though, he got an Oscar for one performance and a BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG for another and so many other awards, so, in the end, who is the real winner? And 'Shrek' won the first ever Best Animated Feature Oscar, so, hey, I guess it all works out. I'm aware most of this review is me talking about something unrelated to the actual film but I'm sorry, it's just unbelievable and, hey, where else can I talk about this?

However, there is very little else I can say about this film because I loved all of it, it does absolutely everything right. Soundtrack; excellent and very inspiring, that uses some slight arrangements that Horner would go on to use in 'All the Kings Men'. Cinematography; beautiful and clever, Roger Deakins did it, so that's to be expected. Editing; smart. Script; heartbreaking and extremely moving. Featuring perfect, sensitive direction and one of the best lead performances by actor that has ever been filmed, it all wraps up into a very moving, inspiring, engaging, heartbreaking, powerful film. It is a film that really deserved the awards it got and it stars Russell Crowe in his 2nd Best Picture win out of 4 nominees in a row and overall, really holds up well. It is another film off of the list and I just absolutely love it, it's perfect from beginning to end. 'A Beautiful Mind' is very simply, one of the best films ever made.