Kitsch! (or alt. title: "The Man Who Was Afraid Of Hats")

Rating: 4/10 (27 September 2002)

"A Beautiful Mind" is an honoured film. Lots of awards has been coming it's way and I understand it as this film is an archeotype of the kitschy image a lot of directors have on making film.
In fact, the film is kitsch. The result is always going to be so when the introductory view from the directors point is that "we are going to make art/history etc.". Indeed Ron Howard has always wanted to make THAT film that could keep everybody talking. Looking at his records show that he so far has not artistically been very succesful. With all these awards, notably beating Robert Altman in Best Directing at the Oscars and DGA, has he then achieved it? Has he made art with "A Beautiful Mind"?
No. Far from. He has elaborated on his very oldfashioned look at making movies, and he has shown his disrespect for the viewers.

Take a look at the dialogue in this one. Do people really talk like this? Did they do that in the '50s? No. Between Nash and his wife there isn't a single real-life conversation. Ron Howard does not have time for such common things. Common things in his mind cannot be art. So the couple are left with a cribbling dialogue that never explain their affection for each other but simply displays them as puppets. They are not real people. (A bizarre thing to say when the plot centers around an authentic story!)
Ron Howard's best effort so far IMO has been "EdTV". That was a charming film that did not try to be more than it was: Entertaining. The characters in it were (so to speak) normal - and so was the dialogue. Strange that even the real people in "A Beautiful Mind" have to be so shallow.
Also, Howard believes that the audience is more or less stupid. This leeds him to giving up on all subtleness and explaining everything very clearly. I don't like being spoken to as if I was stupid - do you? It destroys the overall issues of this film - and I cannot help thinking that it is so odd Howard never even tries to elaborate on Nash's theories and his importance. He has given up on us from the very start.
Russel Crowe is a always a rock, but here his performance tend to be unintentionally amusing - remember Anthony Hopkins in "Legends Of The Fall"? You want to laugh as his character deteriorates - but no no, this is serious stuff. Does Ron Howard really thing life is that serious? Where is the authenticity in this real life story?
Jennifer Connelly is given very little to work with. She whispers and has got a different hair-do from time to time - and then there is the obliged breakdown that gave her the Oscar. Only Winslet and Smith were AMPAS nominees in the supporting category this year without displaying "breakdowns". Food for thought, eh? Anyway; even Connelly's breakdown seems odd. Howard so bad wanted the Oscar for her.
Kitsch is what this film is about. Indeed the weakest of the five Best Picture nominees. Artistically flawed and tame, Howard got what he wanted.

4/10