An Unbeautiful Detail

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2002)

The "Beautiful Mind" was in intricate mosaic, meticulous in its care for detail at the script level. I wouldn't presume to be even an adequate film critique, but films that keep me in their spell for days, and whose imagery-fabric continue to visit me are "friends of mine" to whom I return the visit. I enjoy them and live with their flaws. "Mind" was beautiful, but I was periodically and abruptly "de-suspended" from dis-belief in a most crass manner. During some of the most intimate and touching scenes, out from the top of the screen would suddenly, almost nonchalantly, appear the image of a boom held microphone. I simply lost count how times it occurred, and even began to convince myself that it must be "part of the art form". It was impossible to ignore but I did succeed in quelling my abrupt and periodic gasps as not to disturb my fellow viewers (especially my wife who scolded me for pettiness). As a mathematician and incurable film addict, I still believe that the beauty and truth are revealed in the details. I am awed that such "petty detail" escaped the eyes of the editor and the art of the director.