A Beautiful Mind (2 Discs)

A Beautiful Mind Review

Nominated for eight Academy Awards – including Best Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay – "A Beautiful Mind" is the latest movie from the acclaimed director of "The Grinch" and "Apollo 13," Ron Howard. It tells the amazing true life story of John Nash, a brilliant mathematician who made an astonishing discovery as a young man in the 1940s, while still a student. For a while it looked like he was well on the way to a glittering career, and the woefully socially inept genius – played by the Oscar nominated Russell Crowe – even found a wife amongst his own students (played by Jennifer Connolly, also up for an Oscar). However Nash was eventually diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, and spent much of the rest of his life attempting to overcome the illness.

How can a film like this not appeal to those that dole out the Oscars? Cynically, you can almost imagine the filmmakers ticking off the list that makes for an Oscar-friendly movie (a fairly true life story of personal triumph over adversity, a sympathetic yet showy central performance, an acclaimed director who has yet to win, and – of course – big bucks at the box office!).

However whether the film was as coldly calculated as that or not it is irrelevant as it is ultimately a very good movie. Crowe's portrayal of the troubled Nash stays this side of melodramatic and, with the help of Ron Howard's impressive narrative skills and a well balanced screenplay, gives the viewer an insightful look into the terrifying world of mental illness. A good, in fact, very good movie then, and one that will grow on you as it stays in your mind in the days after you see it. But good enough for eight Oscars? Probably not…