A Beautiful Mind Review
by Karina Montgomery (cinerina AT flash DOT net)January 2nd, 2002
Beautiful Mind
Rental Plus Snacks
Beautiful Mind was interesting for two reasons. One, it's based on a true story, which always makes a mind thrill to the notion that anything that seems outlandish or weird has to be there because it is true. Two, Russell Crowe is not generally cast as the weird outcast, low-status guy. As a result, his performance is interesting just to see him so very different from his obnoxious, headstrong talk show self, his Gladiator determination, or his Insider or Proof of Life confidence. Really, that's the best thing about Beautiful Mind. That, and the cinematography.
However, the downside of based on a true story is that sometimes in people's lives, the linear progression of events is not always interesting, dynamic, or part of a greater, ironic story arc. Therefore, glimpsed bits of potential for reward or interest are by necessity passed over in favor of the truth. This is no-one's fault but Fate, and I would not fault the film for it. Also, incredibly advanced math is not very cinematically interesting, no matter what Good Will Hunting might have implied, and so we must have a deeper drama or human connection to the numbers and symbols. Fortunately, John Nash's life was filled with more drama than anyone should have to bear. For the really slow moments, (fortunately not pervasive) one can sit back and marvel at how preternaturally beautiful Jennifer Connelly is.
Ron Howard does know how to wring you for pathos, and he forces love into every corner that is not taken up by plot or science. Maybe Howard can't help it, but it does sadly dilute the film of some of its power, story-wise. It's a true story though, and it no doubt is what allowed events to unfurl in the manner that they did (again, not wanting to give anything away).
The makeup is great, as well as the production design. Nash's life is covered from something like 1947 to 1994, and the physical change he affects, as well as his environment and the look and feel of some of the places he finds himself over the years is pretty amazing. From a technical standpoint, it's a small, non-showboaty movie, but the feel is very real, very solid. It's not at all a bad film, but as "an entertainment," it is crippled by its basic premise of a man with very little by way of social skills encountering some pretty demanding obstacles (and confederates) in his long life, all surrounded by the logical, unchanging world of mathematics. It is proof that life cannot be codified by science.
I will say that the preview is very misleading, and I did appreciate how much the movie was not given away by the preview despite them having taken footage from pretty key moments. It is marketed in kind of the same way Windtalker is - dashing codebreaker and the pressures of his life, etc., but really, this is not what the film is about. Bums in seats, my friend. But as a drama of a man's pretty interesting life, it is actually quite pleasing.
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