Amazing portrayals, editing, cinematic style and chemistry

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2015)

This movie is just brilliant. The acting is brilliant. The portrayals of that period in time is brilliant. The directing is brilliant. It's brilliant. The movie may not be as accurate as the reality, but it displays the effects of schizophrenia on the mind and of those around in a way that is accessible to everyone. I would really like to read the biography of John Nash now.
Russell Crowe does a fantastic job getting into his character, that he pretty much becomes John Nash. He is like Eddie Redmayne in Theory of Everything, or rather Eddie Redmayne is like Russel Crowe and Theory of Everything is like A Beautiful Mind of 2015. Jennifer Connelly (who seriously looks like Demi Moore) is great in this too. I won't get into how her character is entirely centred on being a care taker, but perhaps that's how it was. Anyway, her acting was great and the emotions she portrayed could be felt. The rest of the cast too were brilliant and you could really feel how in character they were.
Ron Howard did a great job directing this to be a masterpiece. I would expect that it would be hard to connect with this kind of character and to keep the audience involved in the film, but Howard does it perfectly. Also, Crowe portrays Nash in a semi-charismatic and witty way and as the audience, we are just drawn to him. Great job on both their parts.
The editing and make-up are pretty phenomenal too. The editing of time passing and cuts of scenes make the film engrossing to the viewer. The scenes during and after the revelation of his mental state mimic his inner turmoil as the mood of the film tones down from there to one that is more sober. The make-up is especially noticeable as the characters age and there is a dramatic difference between their appearances – in a good way. It's incredible how make- up can do wonders.
I don't really find this a problem in the movie, but it did add and or change events from reality. For one instance the ending scene with the pens is not a custom at all, and the relationship between John and Alicia was much more rocky than was portrayed. As a portrayal of real life situations and people, I feel like they should have respected what happened instead of 'Hollywood-izing' it. I still love the movie though.
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