| The
Review: |
I don't think I've ever been
so stumped as to my opinion about a movie than with "A Beautiful
Mind," a piece of filmmaking that I cannot help but embrace,
yet could not keep myself from panning previously. In the
past, I could not help but wonder why the filmmakers felt
it necessary to sugarcoat history to plays on our sentiment
for John Forbes Nash rather than our disdain; I realize now
what I was missing. This is not so much a movie about factual
events as it is one about personal strength and willpower.
It's a beautifully-crafted, elegantly designed, exquisitely
acted masterwork that possesses such a pull, drawing the viewer
in to experience everything it has to offer, and then allowing
them to argue about it. I must confess, I'm at a loss for
proper words; even in this, my third (and hopefully final)
review of the film, I have little idea as to how to describe
what I've seen. ***
The film is directed by Ron
Howard, the creator of the magnificent historical piece "Apollo
13," and here, he puts everything he has into his efforts
to make us care for all aspects of his work. He instills a
momentus amount of poignant and touching moments into the
story about a man who must overcome his most terrifying enemy:
himself. As a director, Howard is well-known for his use of
sentiment and emotion in telling his stories, even if his
efforts don't always turn out successful (2000's "How The
Grinch Stole Christmas" comes to mind). Here, such tactics
work with the movie in one aspect, and deny it a chance at
higher goals in another. ***
The film is based on the life
of Nobel Prize-winner John Forbes Nash, Jr, a brilliant mathematician
who suffered severe bouts of schizophrenia that incapacitated
him for a major part of his life. The movie approaches the
subject with all the uplift and moral virtue one can imagine,
creating a terrific connection between the character, played
by Russell Crowe, and the audience through easily-identifiable
moments of fear and emotional grief as a result of his inability
to cope with the fact that life as he knows it is all in his
wildly dangerous imagination. ***
Howard is absolutely cunning
in his crafting of the film in that he supplies each section
of the story its own personal aura of warmth, discomfort,
and various detailed moods. The beginning of the movie is
devoted to Nash's personal growth, as he develops new ideas
and theories concerning mathematics during his years at Princeton.
His roommate Charles (Paul Bettany) is quite the charming,
inquisitive friend, the perfect companion for the disconnected
Nash. We feel an incredible sense of warmth from their friendship,
as well as from Nash's budding relationship with one of his
students at MIT, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), who would go
on to become his wife. ***
And then things become darker,
moodier, and much more chaotic, as Nash begins working as
a government spy for a secret agency run by a certain William
Parcher (Ed Harris), who warns him of the dangers of communism,
and implores him to remain secretive in all his dealings.
Being of a fragile mind, Nash cooperates unconditionally,
studying various newspaper and magazine publications for any
scrap or evidence of code communication amongst communist
sympathizers within America. We see a vast change in him as
a result of this, from his harsher, more intolerant treatment
of wife Alicia, to his unwillingness to give up on his work,
even when it is discovered that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
***
The scene in which this realization
is presented is one of the most memorable moments in film
history: Howard not only has set us up for an effectively
shocking plot twist, but keeps us questioning whether or not
it is real for more time than most directors would dare. We
see Alicia caught in the middle of a storm, burdened with
the possibility that either the doctors caring for her husband
may be working against him, or that Nash is really just envisioning
everything, from his roommate Charles and his young niece,
to Parcher, in his mind. The question is thrown at us with
a withdrawn force that slowly presents itself as the revelations
begins to appear, making the impact of this new change in
story potent, charged with intensity, and chilling in its
reality. ***
And then, the movie takes us
on a completely different journey, a dramatic depiction of
Nash's personal struggle to rid himself of his burdens, and
the changes the befall himself as well as those around him.
This is where the brunt of the emotional scenes take place:
the moments between John and Alicia in the mental hospital
possess an undercurrent of depth and resonance, keeping us
in touch with their unshakable bond in the face of such trauma.
The conditions of Nash's disease also find presence here,
and Howard is able to balance with unmitigated brilliance
the various periods of recovery, from lighter, happier moments
where things seem to be on their way to a state of normalcy,
to instances of horror and grief (the scene in which Nash
unknowingly endangers the life of his infant child is the
perfect testiment to the harsh nature of his mind). ***
I've talked about Howard's work
on the movie, and now I must commend his cast. Russell Crowe
has made a worthy name for himself, but his portrayal of John
Nash is his best work to date, and perhaps will go unmatched
throughout his career. His juxtaposition of the character's
unwillingness to believe that his work is imaginary, with
moments where he is in his own world without questioning its
reality, is nothing short of mesmerizing, a testament to his
insatiable ability as an actor. In him, we see the emotional
breakdown of Nash, and can connect with him on various complex
levels that only Crowe could create. ***
His performance is matched by
that of the underrated Jennifer Connelly, who so masterfully
portrays Alicia Nash as a woman caught between her love for
her husband, the unbearable grief she feels over what she
considers her duty as a caretaker. We see in her a great deal
of warmth, devotion, and unconditional love that floods every
scene she touches with a beakon of light and hope. One scene
above all says all we need to know about her struggles: she
sits in a darkened bathroom, a glass of water in her hand,
and she throws it at the mirror, screaming a scream that shatters
the silence in ways no words could even hope to achieve. ***
To be sure, the movie moved me
upon first seeing it. It's only after I began to learn more
about the real John Nash that my inhibitions became increasingly
fervent. The details of Nash's life in the movie are but a
sugary teardrop in what was a densely rich and complex life,
and for a period of time, I felt the movie was little more
than a Hollywood confection that could have been so much more.
In reality, John Nash was not the endearing man seen in "A
Beautiful Mind." He indulged in various homosexual activities
throughout his life, something the movie only seems to hint
at in the beginning moments of its story. In 1953, his longtime
companion bore them a son, after which he became involved
with Alicia, and was even involved with another man during
all of this. The movie takes its biggest liberty by portraying
the Nashes as a solid, unbreachable couple, when in reality,
they were divorced in 1962. Even the life-affirming speech
given by Nash in the movie during the Nobel Prize ceremony
is a fabrication, a concoction of treacle and sentiment the
likes of which only Hollywood could produce. ***
Even now, with all my praise
for the film, I cannot help but think of the film that could
have been. I guess to truly capture the heart of "A Beautiful
Mind," one must cast history and factual events aside, and
take the movie for what it is: a compelling, thoughtful, heartfelt
and richly emotional story of struggle, defiance, will, strength,
love, power, fear, awakening, and above all else, life. I've
revisited Howard's film numerous times, and will continue
to do so; I realize now that, in my haste to compare the movie
to its origins, I was overlooking the true nature of one of
the greatest and most touching films ever made.
|
| The
Extras |
There's no doubt about
it: "A Beautiful Mind" makes a beautiful DVD, and anyone who
embraced the movie will no doubt find a soft spot for this
finely-crafted collection of supplemental material. ***
In addition to the commentaries,
Disc One also contains a collection of deleted scenes with
some optional commentary from Howard. These scenes are nice
to look at, and they fit in well with the rest of the material,
though som sequences would have added unnecessarily to the
running time of the movie. ***
Disc Two begins with the
featurette "A Beautiful Partnership: Ron Howard and Brian
Grazer," and features Howard and Grazer discussing their initial
intentions for "A Beautiful Mind," what they wanted to bring
to the movie, and what they, themselves, received from the
experience of making it a reality. The two show a great deal
of enthusiasm that doesn't appear to be solely due to the
fact that they now have Oscar sitting on their fireplace mantles
at home, and there is strong evidence in their conversation
of true effort and hard work put into their product. ***
Next up is "Development
of the Screenplay," in which Goldsman talks more about lifting
the pages of Sylvia Nasar's biography to the screen. Basically,
much of what is talked about here was covered previously in
the commentary, so it may seem a little repetitive to some.
Hot on its heels are "Meeting John Nash," a series of video
recordings made in order to study the mannerisms and demeanor
of the real Nash, and a video clip from the 1994 Nobel Prize
ceremony in which Nash accepts his honors. ***
The next couple of featurettes
cover the movie's technical issues, from special effects to
score, make-up to casting. "Casting Russell Crowe and Jennifer
Connelly" features interviews with Howard and various others
about the choice of casting these two brilliant actors, and
everyone shows a great deal of praise and appreciation for
their ability to convey the complex nuances of their characters.
"The Process of Age Progression" goes behind the process by
which Russell Crowe was made to look as if he had aged over
a period of forty years, while "Creation of the Special Effects"
details the crafting of such scenes as the baby in the bathtub
sequence, and the pigeons that go undisturbed by the young
girl. James Horner discusses the haunting melodies and the
incredible voice of Charlotte Church in "Scoring the Film,"
and the "Storyboard Comparisons" show how scenes were conceived
and planned out in pre-production. ***
There is also an all-encompassing
half-hour featurette entitled "Inside A Beautiful Mind," a
post-Golden Globe/pre-Oscar puff piece which basically goes
over everything that is covered by the previous featurettes.
And then there are the clips from the Oscars themselves, which
show the actors and filmmakers receiving their awards and
making their acceptance speeches (I still wonder why Connelly's
nomination was for Best Supporting Actress; was the blonde
in the early bar sequence the top runner for Best Actress
or something?).
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