A Beautiful Mind

Plot synopsis:
John Nash (Russell Crowe) arrives at Princeton University as a new graduate student. He is a recipient of the prestigious Carnegie Prize for mathematics. Though he was promised a single room, his roommate Charles (Paul Bettany), a literature student, greets him as he moves in and soon becomes his best friend. Nash also meets a group of other promising math and science graduate students, Martin Hansen (Josh Lucas), Sol (Adam Goldberg), Ainsley (Jason Gray-Stanford), and Bender (Anthony Rapp), with whom he strikes up an awkward friendship. Nash admits to Charles that he is better with numbers than people, which comes as no surprise to them after watching his largely unsuccessful attempts at conversation with the women at the local bar.Nash is seeking a truly original idea for his thesis paper, and he is under increasing pressure to develop his thesis so he can begin work. A particularly harsh rejection from a woman at the bar is what ultimately inspires his fruitful work in the concept of governing dynamics, a theory in mathematical economics.After the conclusion of Nash's studies as a student at Princeton, he accepts a prestigious appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), along with his friends Sol and Bender.Five years later while teaching a class on Calculus at MIT, he places a particularly interesting problem on the chalkboard that he dares his students to solve. When his student Alicia Larde (Jennifer Connelly) comes to his office to discuss the problem, the two fall in love and eventually marry.On a return visit to Princeton, Nash runs into his former roommate Charles and meets Charles' young niece Marcee (Vivien Cardone), whom he adores. He also encounters a mysterious Department of Defense agent, William Parcher (Ed Harris). Nash is invited to a secret United States Department of Defense facility in the Pentagon to crack a complex encryption of an enemy telecommunication. Nash is able to decipher the code mentally to the astonishment of other codebreakers.Parcher observes Nash's performance from above, while partially concealed behind a screen. Parcher gives Nash a new assignment, to look for patterns in magazines and newspapers, ostensibly to thwart a Soviet plot. He must write a report of his findings and place them in a specified mailbox. After being chased by the Russians and an exchange of gunfire, Nash becomes increasingly paranoid and begins to behave erratically.After observing this erratic behavior, Alicia informs a psychiatric hospital. Later, while delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash realizes that he is being watched by a hostile group of people. Although he attempts to flee, he is forcibly sedated and sent to a psychiatric facility. Nash's internment seemingly confirms his belief that the Soviets were trying to extract information from him. He views the officials of the psychiatric facility as Soviet kidnappers.Alicia, desperate to help her husband, visits the mailbox and retrieves all of the never-opened, "top secret" documents that Nash had delivered there. When confronted with this evidence, Nash is finally convinced that he has been hallucinating. The Department of Defense agent William Parcher and Nash's secret assignment to decode Soviet messages was in fact all a delusion. Even more surprisingly, Nash's friend Charles and his niece Marcee are also only products of Nash's mind.After a painful series of insulin shock therapy sessions, Nash is released on the condition that he agrees to take antipsychotic medication. However, the drugs create negative side-effects that affect his relationship with his wife and, most dramatically, his intellectual capacity. Frustrated, Nash secretly stops taking his medication and hoards his pills, triggering a relapse of his psychosis.While bathing his infant son, Nash becomes distracted and wanders off. Alicia is hanging laundry in the backyard and observes that the back gate is open. She discovers that Nash has turned an abandoned shed in a nearby grove of trees into an office for his work for Parcher. Upon realizing what has happened, Alicia runs into the house to confront Nash and barely saves their child from drowning in the bathtub. When she confronts him, Nash claims that his friend Charles was watching their son. Alicia runs to the phone to call the psychiatric hospital for emergency assistance. Parcher urges Nash to kill his wife, but Nash angrily refuses to do such a thing. After arguing with Parcher, Nash accidentally knocks Alicia to the ground. Afterwards, Alicia flees the house in fear with their child, but Nash steps in front of her car to prevent her from leaving. After a moment, Nash realizes that Marcee is a figment of his hallucinations because she has remained the same age since the day he met her. He tells Alicia, "She never gets old." Only then does he accept that all three people are, in fact, part of his hallucinations. (It is important to note that in real life, Nash suffered from auditory hallucinations and possible delusions, instead of visual hallucinations).Caught between the intellectual paralysis of the antipsychotic drugs and his delusions, Nash and Alicia decide to try to live with his abnormal condition. Nash consciously says goodbye to the three of them forever in his attempts to ignore his hallucinations and not feed his demons. However, he thanks Charles for being his best friend over the years, and says a tearful goodbye to Marcee, stroking her hair and calling her "baby girl," telling them both he wouldn't speak to them anymore.Nash grows older and approaches his old friend and intellectual rival Martin Hansen, now head of the Princeton mathematics department, who grants him permission to work out of the library and audit classes, though the university will not provide him with his own office. Though Nash still suffers from hallucinations and mentions taking newer medications, he is ultimately able to live with and largely ignore his psychotic episodes. He takes his situation in stride and humorously checks to ensure that any new acquaintances are in fact real people, not hallucinations.Nash eventually earns the privilege of teaching again. He is honored by his fellow professors for his achievement in mathematics, and goes on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory. Nash and Alicia are about to leave the auditorium in Stockholm, when John sees Charles, Marcee and Parcher standing and smiling. Alicia asks John, "What's wrong?" John replies, "Nothing." With that, they both leave the auditorium.(Source: WikiPedia. Bangs_McCoy)

Tags: suspenseful, psychological, dramatic, cult, flashback, insanity, inspiring, romantic, historical, prank

Review:
(And you know, he'll never stop being called Opie, even by those of us who never saw The Andy Griffith Show during its initial run.) And plucking heartstrings is not a bad thing at all, not when you can do it in such a sincere, noncloying way as the masterful Beautiful Mind presents to its viewers.John Nash is a mathematics prodigy who has a decided knack at solving previously unsolvable problems.
John Nash's mind is the reality of the movie and its not until the movie is half over that you realize this and its jarring that you've been taken on a ride with this man's illness, and accepted it as the real world.
Its also a very heartbreaking thing.From the middle point, John and you see the world differently because he starts to receive treatment.Russell Crowe does not overdo it for a minute and turns in his customary brilliant performance.
Just as good but with less screen time is the beautiful and beautifully talent Jennifer Connelly, who the world may finally get to see in a mainstream movie.
But Russell Crowe in this film showed me what it was like to act in a way where I was in awe of his skill in playing this character, especially when considering the extreme difference from characters in his other movies such as the Gladiator and The Insider.
Look how popular the cable television show "Monk" has become.Crowe's character, mathematician John Nash, is not nearly as eccentric as "Monk," but his schizophrenia makes for a fascinating portrait of a very troubled man.
(One example: in real life, Nash's wife was anything but as supportive as Jennifer Connelly was portrayed here.)The first time I saw this film I was disappointed.
A poorly tailored trailer does not begin to describe what is one man's journey from the heaven of clear thought to the hell of schizophrenia.Russell Crowe does an excellent role as John Nash, a mathematician who revolutionizes Group Theory, only to have his mind crash into confused and split views of the world.Jennifer Connelly is superb as his wife.
Ed Harris, Russel Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Paul Bettany were terrific.The film had great balance and is worth a viewing.The story boldly addresses mental illness as a handicap.Because of the quality of the acting and directing, this movie is a beacon of hope for people of all disabilities.
The way he walks, the way he slide himself between the gate at the abandoned warehouse where he thought was a Russian secret movement operation center, the way he talks, in fact, everything, was portrayed perfectly that it actually concealed that very russell crowe that i never actually liked.The movie was somehow close to me as my uncle, who was a genius,also suffered from schizophrenia, but passed away years ago.
Loving yet not so mushy, smart yet vulnerable at time.Despites all the comments about the movie not being so realistic and not really based on the facts of Nash, i still think it deserves one the of the most beautiful movies i had ever watched..
But with that comes a sense of paranoia and pretty soon John is sliding desperately into schizophrenia.There is a school of thought that says any decent film about the mentally ill or afflicted is a sure fire way to attract the awards givers.
It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four for Best Film, Best Director {Ron Howard}, Best Supporting Actress {Jennifer Connelly} and Best Adapted Screenplay {Akiva Goldsman adapting from the book by Sylvia Nash}.
It's a superlative performance from Crowe and him not winning is probably more to do with his much publicised dust up at the BAFTAS a few weeks before the Oscar ceremony: than his undoubted acting ability.The film as a whole should not be viewed as a representation of John Nash's life, many important things from Sylvia Nash's book have been omitted.
OK, so it's far from perfect in its portrayal of Nash the man, but ultimately the cinematic world is a far better place when the likes of A Beautiful Mind are being made and the film lovers are flocking to see it.
I have experienced schizophrenia first-hand: I have a brother suffering from the disease.I have also read Sylvia Nasar's brilliant biography of John Nash.Against that background, I have to say that the film "A Beautiful Mind" is a reprehensible example of filmmaking.It's a complete fabrication of the real story of John Nash.
It shows how the elite in Hollywood are completely out of touch with reality.The true story of John Nash is not told in this film.
Here are some clues: In the part where the film does talk about mathematics, it makes the viewer feel that he is more intelligent than he actually is, which is always a good idea when you're aiming for the lowest common denominator and you want your picture to sell tickets in the Ozarks as well as in Hollywood.In the part where the film talks about romance, the worst possible woman's picture clichés are dragged out to show Nash as "different" and desirable.
If that isn't enough to turn any brilliant mind into a paranoid-schizophrenic, I really don't know what is.In all the other parts, the bad script and the bad out-of-place acting by miscast actors are immensely aided by photographic special effects and by the music (or rather non-music) of James Horner, the inventor of today's omnipresent minimalist "fear music", where the cinema's sub-woofers are put to maximum use to make the viewer feel danger directly through his anal sphincter, the only part of one's anatomy that is actually needed to "enjoy" this film as written..
It's the usual problem with a film about someone whose accomplishments are less easy to demonstrate than touchdowns or legislation passed or wars won: How do you convey even a taste of what makes an artist an artist, or in this case, a genius a genius?Let me say right off that I don't particularly care about possible factual errors in a biopic, unless they're so glaring as to oppose the spirit of their subject (i.e., depicting Muhammad Ali as a Nazi or Himmler as a Muslim).What really bothers me about this well-acted (by the leads) but safe and pat movie is that the filmmakers had plenty of access to details of Nash's accomplishments, but decided not to let us in on the secret(s).
and judging from the mega-box office success of the film, maybe they were right.The film is called "A Beautiful Mind", and Nash is a Nobel-winning mathematician, but rather than delve into exactly what made his theories so revolutionary, screenwriter Akiva (the Batman series, Lost In Space) Goldsman and director Ron (Night Shift, Apollo 13) Howard feed us the glowing comments of others & a cute but not entirely plausible explanation of Nash's revolutionary work.
Instead, it's the usual bland button-pushing, lifted by Crowe's extraordinary performance and strong work by Harris and Connelly in support.This one's not as hilariously undeserving of the statue as "Gladiator", "Out Of Africa", and "Braveheart", but it will settle in nicely with the likes of "Chariots Of Fire" and "Driving Miss Daisy" in the bland and forgettable bin, should this heavy favorite win Best Picture in 2002..
A beautiful mind was another superbly directed and acted movie both by Russell Crowe and directed by Ron Howard.
The only three things that kept me watching it to ending were actor Russell Crowe, cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer James Horner.Actually, the film starts pretty good.
Just as I was starting to think this would be a good movie, it started to go drastically downhill.The filmmakers (Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman) get drawn into what appears like two subplots - one about Nash's love affection and one about his paranoia of communist spies - and lose the conception of the film.
All characters are poorly written, there is not one single good dramatic scene; a *lot* of the screen time is stolen by imaginary characters (they actually feel more lively than the actual people in the movie).The acting is hopeless; the dreadful direction makes all characters except Nash seem like cameos and the screenplay really feels as it is written by the fellow who wrote Batman & Robin (dah).And the fact that the film isn't thruthful to its subject doesn't make it any better, either..
This is by no way an Oscar movie and I will cry bitter tears if Russell Crowe takes away the best male again.
People possessing ability or prodigal genius are often times, not even aware of it!!Russel Crowe is sensational in this movie, as he plays Nobel Peace Prize winner, John Nash!!
The producers of this movie want the audience to view John Nash's (Russel Crowe's) mental handicap like you are from the outside looking in!!
Sadly, Ron Howard has made a film which is a complete bastardization of the real story of John Nash.Let's forget that Nash's form of the mental illness was merely misinterpreting radio messages, as opposed to having 'imaginary' car chases from secret agents.
Maudlin, paint-by-numbers biopic about math whiz John Nash that makes mental illness and marital strife look as pretty as a magazine cover.Russell Crowe does give a good performance, I'll give the film that, but I wonder how much better a performance he could have given if under the guidance of a more interesting director than Ron Howard.
Works fine when you're dealing with mermaids and firemen, but not so much when dealing with material like this.Jennifer Connelley proved that Joan Allen no longer necessarily cornered the market on mopey suffering wife roles, which turned out to be a good thing for us, because Allen was then free to play a hot CIA agent in the Bourne movies.Grade: C.
Much better than the ego and the headlines would suggest, here he delivers a performance that convincingly changes across the film and does the tricky thing of making the audience feel and understand a character in a way that was very difficult to pull off.
If you can look well-beyond this bio-film's exaggerated sentimentality, its "schizophrenia" whitewashing, and the fact that its story was only very loosely based on the real-life genius/mathematician, John Nash, then, yes, you just might find it's worth sitting all the way through its 135-minute running time (which did, indeed, wear on this viewer's patience more than once).From my perspective - A Beautiful Mind seemed to be more interested in spotlighting Nash's mental illness (and his imaginary friends/alter egos) than it did about concentrating on his amazing ability to crunch all of those numbers.As well - The focus on Nash's relationship with Alicia Larde (unconvincingly played by Jennifer Connelly), who eventually became his wife, certainly had a tendency to become an irksome "soap opera" bore, which grated on my nerves, often enough.A Beautiful Mind covers approximately 40 years of Nash's life, from the 1950s to the 1990s, when he was co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences.
Nevertheless, come February and March, they take home all sorts of little gold statuettes.Russell Crowe offers another fine (though not Best Actor nomination worthy) performance as John Nash, schizophrenic genius extraordinaire, while Ed Harris proves again that he should receive more leading roles.
A Beautiful Mind strives to do this, providing us with a glimpse into the world of mental illness, but ultimately the movie fails in this.The movie ultimately is not about schizophrenia; it's about John Nash.
In fact, the best picture SHOULD have gone to LORD OF THE RINGS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING instead.In the beginning of A BEAUTIFUL MIND, I found myself thinking, `Wow, this really IS going to be good!' Because I, myself, thought RUSSELL CROWE shouldn't have won best actor for GLADIATOR 2 years ago, and now I was thinking that this'll make up for that.
Something about it just was out of place, and though I know this film is based on the real JOHN NASH, I personally feel RON HOWARD messed up chances at possible good film.
A Beautiful Mind is a fantastic true story of John Nash who is suffering from an illness which is making him struggle with his Math work at the University.
To make matters worse, he gets involved in with a conspiracy with the Russians.The film has almost perfect directing by Ron Howard and the acting by Russel Crowe and Jennifer Connoly is also perfect, it is so very much deserving of the 4 Academy Awards.
A Beautiful Mind does many things right: smooth, professional aesthetics, a solid story, and an interesting well developed character, John Nash (Crowe).
I did however have one major problem with the film-- the characterization of Alicia, Nash's wife.Although Jennifer Connelly may have "acted" well, I found her character highly problematic.
I'm sorry, but I've never met anyone like this.Part of the problem with her characterization I think stems from two "Hollywoodisms" to the adaptation: first, omitting the complex and confusing nature of Nash's love life (i.e. the period of homosexuality) in an effort to make the film mainstream friendly, and secondly, the technique of making his schizophrenia appear real for the first half of the film (ala Sixth Sense).
Gary never made it to star status and then began weighing roles by the size of his pay-cheque, but he is at heart a terrific actor, albeit a really full-bore, over-the-top one, but if that's the way the director wanted it played -- as an out and out looney tune -- why not go with a great actor that can give you a fluid performance that is not a bunch of cobbled together tics (and whose "West Virginia" accent wanes more than Nash's schizophrenia as portrayed in the film).This film is terrible -- it makes a caricature of a genius, a caricature of someone who is mentally ill.
Howard stages the action in that classic Hollywood way that makes the story involving.The film largely succeeds on Crowe's and Connelly's winning performance.
Although this film was slow paced, it was kept a float with Russell Crowe's best performance.The screenplay was excellent, as was of course Ron Howard's directing.The writing was great and I found the story kept my attention throughout the entire film.The performances by Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plummer where excellent.Certainly worth seeing.It's an 8/10 from me!.
Connolly has always had a hard time emoting and Crowe really only plays Crowe aide from the rare movie like "The Insider." The director did a great job aside of the lead, but really we have Crowe playing Crowe thinking he is the greatest actor on earth and, really, he should be playing John Nash.John Nash doesn't really make an appearance in the film at all, it is all Crowe and that just doesn't work for a biopic.Any other actor and it would have been as great as the fans make it out to be..
Crowe's performance is the only things that saves it for me.Basically this movie is one more Hollywood cliche - with the character depiction and development, the generic ending, the BORING generic music in the exact moments as expected.
But then there has been considerable press about the liberties with the facts taken by the filmmakers in presenting the story of John Nash and this made me wonder how realistic this presentation of schizophrenia was and whether, in fact, we were receiving Hollywood's view of the disease.Not a bad film - but not a particularly good one either..
Regarding Jennifer Connelly's performance, oft-lauded of late, let me say this: I'll be the first to admit that both she and her role fit like a hand-in-glove; which is to say, how fortunate it was of Ron Howard to find a two-dimensional actress to portray a two-dimensional character.Anachronisms abound in this movie, particularly in the dialogue.
Ron Howard brings forth one of his best and most serious films to date, A Beautiful Mind.
In retrospect, it isn't surprising that Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind" won the Academy Award for Best Picture: it's a sentimental and yet highly dramatic package which takes a time-worn theme for the movies (mental illness) and gives it a few new twists (the Academy normally frowns on edgy concepts--this one has an old-fashioned set-up and a lead performance preconceived to be a triumph, yet it has a toughness to its narrative which feels very modern).
Russell Crowe & Jennifer Connelly :) Very hard to top this movie for those fans who consider themselves to be(semi)intellectuals :) The complex subject of schizophrenia is explained in a way I have never seen before.
With delusions like these, no wonder Nash was torn between treatment and "spying."Simply put, A Beautiful Mind is a film which extends far beyond the 2 hours and 15 minutes that you will spend viewing it in the theater.
The characters continued to haunt me after the movie (and still do), thanks to the Oscar-inducing performances by Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and all of the supporting players.
They are not merely acting, yet are transformed into the characters, leaving no trace of a line between their part and reality.Of course a film is only as good as a screenplay would allow, and the story contained within is written in a way that compliments everything that is truly great about A Beautiful Mind.
Ron Howard contributes truly inspiring work to this film, and I hope that the critics remember him when awards are being given out.All I can tell you now is that if you're looking for an emotionally-charged movie that will make you cry, but still filters in some very funny moments as to lighten things up every now and then, with near perfect acting, cinematography, directing, editing and a screenplay which will cause the story of John Nash to inspire you, then consider A Beautiful Mind.I hope a lot of people see this film.