 |
| Russell Crowe stands alone as the mysterious genius in a world seemingly moving fast around him on this poster for Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind |
American Nobel Prize Laureate mathematician John Nash's story is an incredible one. As told in epic biopic A Beautiful Mind, it spans from his academic years at Princeton University, his paranoia against the Russians during the Cold War as well as periods of great love and mathematical achievements.
A Beautiful Mind is made by great Oklahoman filmmaker Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon (2008)), who really hit the jackpot with this very finely made film, which is written by Akiva Goldsman (Winter's Tale (2014)), based on the same-titled 1998 non-fiction book by Sylvia Nasar (Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius (2011)).
Russell Crowe (Proof (1991)) and Jennifer Connelly (Inventing the Abbotts (1997)) both give masterful performances in the leads, and in supporting roles especially Paul Bettany (Blood (2012)) distinguishes himself as Nash's make-believe friend.
The sound, script, and entire concept of Howard's film is Epic with a capital E. The visual style is handsome and made with great ingenuity, making the film a joy to watch. The cinematography is by Roger Deakins (Thunderheart (1992)).
The epic-mindedness stands out perhaps a bit too much towards the end of A Beautiful Mind, wherein the film is tidily put into a narrative frame, and Nash quotes several of his old lines from years before, shown earlier in the film, which is a bit cheesy. - Howard is that kind of relentlessly mainstream, - sometimes entering the sentimental, - director, who at times attains greatness, which A Beautiful Mind is still a sure example of.
Related posts:
Ron Howard: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Howard's first Brown adaptation is a popcorn thriller hoot
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
EDtv (1999) - Phenomenal cast shine in Howard's witty mega-flop
Backdraft (1991) - Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie
American Graffiti (1973) or, Cruisin' Modesto '62 (actor)
Get a sense of the film's epic determination from its trailer here
Cost: 58 mil. $
Box office: 313.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[A Beautiful Mind premiered 13 December (Beverly Hills, CA) and runs 135 minutes. Producer Brian Grazer bought the rights to Nasar's book immediately after having read an excerpt of it. He wanted Howard to direct and had to wait until the filmmaker's schedule allowed it. Shooting took place in New Jersey, including at Princeton University, and in New York from March - July 2001. 90 % of it was reportedly shot chronologically. The film veers considerably from several aspects of Nash's real life. It opened #16 to a 367k $first weekend in 11 theaters in North America, where it later spent 6 weeks in the top 5 (#2 (behind The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) -#2-#3-#3-#4-#-#5) and grossed a huge 170.4 mil. $ (54.4 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 14.2 mil. $ (4.5 %) and Germany with 13.8 mil. $ (4.4 %). Real-life Nash praised the portrayal of mathematics in the film but was unhappy with the creative licenses it took in portraying his life; especially in its making medicine the savior for him; in reality Nash battled his mental illness without the use of medicine. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The film was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 4: Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe lost to Denzel Washington in Training Day), Supporting Actress (Connelly), Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing (lost to Black Hawk Down), Makeup (lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Best Score (James Horner (The Karate Kid (2010)) lost to Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings). The film also won 4/6 Golden Globe noms, 2/5 BAFTAs, 1/4 AFI awards, 1 Grammy nomination and many other honors. IMDb's users have rated it into its top 250 list at #144, wedged in between masterpieces Room (2015) and Casino (1995). Howard returned with The Missing (2003). Crowe returned in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). A Beautiful Mind is certified fresh at 74 % with a 7.23 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of A Beautiful Mind?
No comments:
Post a Comment