The Best of Pictures: A Beautiful Mind (2001), by Josh Long

14 Oct

A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Written by: Akiva Goldsman
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Ed Harris

Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind has everything you might expect from a movie directed by Opie Taylor. It has lush settings, a comfortable 60s tone, and a family that overcomes odds to stick together. The film stars Russell Crowe as John Nash, a brilliant mathematician and economist who suffers from mental abnormalities. It’s about how he and his wife (played by Jennifer Connelly) can overcome the difficulties brought on by his situation.

If I had to pick one word to describe A Beautiful Mind, I think I’d have to use “fine.” I have no big problems with it, it’s shot well, it’s an interesting story, the acting is good – but nothing is that notable or challenging. It’s nothing stellar, but it has a general “Hollywood” feel that probably appealed to the Academy voters.

The most interesting thing specific to the filmmaking in this movie is that the whole thing was shot sequentially 1. Some critics saw this as a weakness in Ron Howard’s directing, but Howard argued that it was done for the benefit of Russell Crowe. The chronological schedule allowed Crowe a more natural progression for the change in his character. This may or may not have had much effect, and many actors might say that Crowe shouldn’t need that in order to portray the progression, but either way it’s an interesting experiment. And Crowe certainly does give a fine performance in the film, arguably much better than his role as Maximus in the previous year’s Gladiator. Nash is a very nuanced personality, and the subtleties of his mental condition certainly took a lot of work to bring out fully.

Also, the way that the film deals with Nash’s condition gives Hollywood audiences something they love – a twist. The movie takes us one way, then shows us that they’ve been pulling our leg. After that it does a very good job of making us live inside Nash’s head, so that we deal with the same paranoia and confusion. We are able to see things both from Nash’s side and from his wife’s side. This does get us involved in the movie, we root for both characters but we want there to be some way to resolve.

There’s some great pathos in this set-up, but again, it does little to challenge its audience. It sets up a difficult situation, promises to work it out, and does. It does a fine job, you’re interested when you’re watching, but like many similar films, the particularities are soon forgotten. It isn’t weak enough to be sappy, but it isn’t gripping enough to be memorable.

It is interesting to see that the Academy chose to go this route in 2001. Most of the other Best Picture nominees were far more ambitious. Fellowship of the Ring was an epic adaptation of one of the world’s best-loved novels. Gosford Park was a wide-scale, sweeping murder mystery that deals with class and family. Moulin Rouge was a wild, spectacle driven love story musical. In the Bedroom was another drama, but much more controversial and atypical in style. Even though I am a great Roger Deakins fan 2, I have to admit that I enjoyed the look of In the Bedroom more than A Beautiful Mind. Standing aside these other films, A Beautiful Mind starts to look a lot less impressive. At the same time, Oscar likes to play it safe sometimes, and Ron Howard’s movie was certainly the safest in 2001.

It has some great performances 3, Connelly won for Best Supporting Actress, there are touching moments, but altogether it isn’t anything outstanding. I enjoyed the movie (I own it) but I rarely find myself itching to grab it off the shelf for another watch.

1 For the uninitiated, this means that the film was shot entirely in chronological order – this is almost never the case with movies, as filmmakers opt instead to shoot everything location by location or lighting set-up by lighting set-up to optimize time.

2 Roger Deakins was the Director of Photography for A Beautiful Mind, famous for his work with the Coen Brothers. But you knew that.

3 It is notable that Crowe didn’t win Best Actor this year. Many feel like this is unfair because Denzel Washington, who did win, played an arguably supporting (not leading) part in Training Day. Even stranger, Ethan Hawke, who played alongside Washington, only got a Best Supporting Actor nod despite that fact that he had more lines in Training Day than Washington.

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