Best movie I've ever seen

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2015)

Until a few hours ago, I had never had a real "experience" watching a film, however, A Beautiful Mind changed that. I felt so many emotions while I watched it, joy, anxiety, fear, anger and excitement, to state a few. This movie truly absorbed me, I was transfixed until the end credits, and it's one of the only films that moved me, it really hit me to the core.
A Beautiful Mind is the story of John Nash (Russell Crowe), a genius mathematician, he is an anti-social guy and very awkward at times. And the film follows his story. After a series of events, John is diagnosed with schizophrenia and his life falls apart, however his story does not end on a sad note. Now this is just a quick breakdown of the whole thing, there are many other events that occur in between (obviously), and all of them are memorable, in part due to the emotional story and even more due to the fantastic acting. The way the film shows the grief and burden that is brought upon Nash and the people closest to him due to his schizophrenia is the film's biggest success, in my opinion.
The acting in this movie is stupendous, every single actor in the movie does an incredible job, especially of course, the brilliant Russell Crowe. This man is a wizard of an actor, his portrayal of John Nash is quite frankly the best acting I have ever seen in my life, the fact that he didn't win an Oscar for this portrayal made me give up on the Academy entirely. There is no doubt in this world that Crowe embodied Nash on every level, his walk, voice and face are all amazing, even more so after discovering his "problem". Jennifer Connelly plays John's wife, Alicia, a very emotionally charged character, with all the hardships she has to go through, and Connelly portrays her just like that, very powerful acting, there's a scene where she freaks out in the bathroom, one word, stunning. The rest of the supporting cast are also great, Ed Harris, as a secret agent, Paul Bettany as John's best friend, Charles and Christopher Plummer as Dr. Rosen, a psychiatrist who treats John's disorder.
The screenplay is superb, every piece of dialogue is amazing, nothing in the movie feels out of place or redundant. The entire film is shot masterfully by Ron Howard, who manages to keep the viewers engaged through the entire film, and making the audience experience the mental illness that John suffers from by putting us in his point of view. And the film does have many, many touching moments, the ending hit me very hard, however the most beautiful and heart-warming scene was the pen ceremony. It was too much, seeing him get acknowledged by all his peers in that way, with the moving music in the back, the whole piece brought tears to my eyes. One of my favorite scenes ever, for this alone, Howard deserved many awards and endless praise.
I cannot stress how amazing this film is, it made me feel so many things throughout its run time, however by the time the credits rolled, the feeling that prevailed was absolute joy, for having had such an amazing time. To me, A Beautiful Mind was not just a film, it was a true experience, a beautiful film, and a masterpiece in every sense of the word, it is the best film I have ever seen in my entire life.