Reader Recommendation: A Beautiful Mind (2001)

About a week or so ago, one of our most recent and vocal readers/commenters requested that I watch A Beautiful Mind someday. Today was that day. This is one of those rare movies that is actually a biography of a real person. I didn't know that initially, but I soon figured it out. Starring Russell Crowe as famous mathematician John Nash, A Beautiful Mind showcases Nash's triumphs and failures throughout his life. Nash is one of the world's most brilliant minds, but he also suffered a terrible mental condition that I won't reveal as it could be a spoiler. Even now, I may have said too much. Hit the jump for my attempt at spoiler free impressions.



I'm not sure what can be considered spoilers since this is actually a biography. I didn't know anything about it going in so the fact that he gets sick was unknown to me. I've decided to remain vague about his illness in hopes of keeping some elements of the story intact for anyone who hasn't seen it. Needless to say, this is a really really good movie that everyone should see.

The acting in this movie, in particular Russell Crowe, is really very good. I completely bought Crowe's depiction of John Nash and all of his little quirks and idiosyncrasies. You see Nash is brilliant to the point of being very socially awkward. He twitches and hesitates and is blunt to the point of rudeness. His eventual wife played by Jennifer Connelly also does a great job, mostly in making us believe their love is real.

Breaking codes!

Another aspect of the believability comes from the effect used to help us understand what it might be like as Nash. It's a similar effect I first saw used in The DaVinci Code but this obviously came first. Basically the numbers and patterns he sees light up and glow or shimmer, standing out in the field of numbers. It works very well and it has a certain fascinating element to it. If only real life math were that pretty to look at.

My only issue with the movie could be taken as a negative, or actually as a positive to some. Throughout the movie there are several climatic moments that feel really and truly like the end of the movie, or at least setting up something that will lead directly into the ending. Like a dramatic car chase for example. The good thing about this is that there are many tense and even exciting moments throughout the film. The bad thing about that is it makes the movie feel like it's never going to end since you always feel it's just about to wrap up really cool, and then it turns out there's still an hour left in the movie.

John and Alicia painting with the stars in the sky

Actually, I did have one more problem, and it's a little too spoilery to get into much detail. Basically because there are so many twists in the movie, in the last act of the film I kept expecting another twist related to his illness and his wife. Turns out I was wrong and the twist I kept waiting for never happened. I just wish I hadn't interpreted the movie's story in that way as it kind of created a tension and disbelief that never needed to be there.

In the end this was still a great movie despite the few problems I had with it. Get your hands on it and check it out, it's far more interesting and exciting than the word "biography" stirs up inside you. Thanks Stacie for the great recommendation!