`MIND' MATTERS, THANKS TO CROWE.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic ``A Beautiful Mind'' is an apt title for Ron Howard's well-crafted biopic bi·o·pic n. A film or television biography, often with fictionalized episodes. biopic Noun Informal a film based on the life of a famous person [bio(graphical) + pic(ture)] of math genius John Forbes Nash John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born June 13 1928) is an American mathematician who works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations, serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University. Jr., a one-time prodigy who overcame a debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction bout with schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. in 1994. The film's greatest achievement lies in its ability to vividly convey both Nash's genius and madness, taking us on an interior roller coaster ride that's every bit as wild as anything you'd find at a theme park. We first meet Nash (Russell Crowe) in 1947 as he arrives at Princeton, a surly loner loner Psychiatry A single young man estranged from society and family, who suffers from psychogenic pain, and tends to live 'on the edge', vacillating between aggression and depression; loners often have unrealistic goals, but are unable to work towards those goals from West Virginia intent on finding one original idea that will confirm his genius. Nash is described as having ``two helpings of brain, but only half a heart,'' so it's left to his gregarious roommate (Paul Bettany, so good as Chaucer in ``A Knight's Tale'') to remind him to eat and occasionally have a beer with his fellow wunderkinds. Success follows, and five years later, while teaching physics at MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Nash meets a student, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), who brings out his tender side. Nash's intellect acquires such a reputation that even the defense department comes calling, asking him to help break a top-secret Russian code. Soon Nash is meeting regularly with a shadowy spy (Ed Harris) and spending most of his free time poring over U.S. periodicals in order to intercept clandestine Soviet messages. And then things really get weird. Nash's beautiful mind turns ugly, paranoia ensues and schizophrenia is diagnosed. The last half of the film is spent with Nash and his colleagues trying to pick up the pieces while Alicia deals with the drama of day-to-day life with a man who wasn't that easy to live with when he was mentally sound. There are some surprises in Akiva Goldsman's screenplay where not everything is as it seems. (It's a theme in movies this year, isn't it?) But Goldsman's script is also too pat, often hammering home its poignant moments and overusing a device that illustrates Nash's mental condition. And for all the talk about Connelly's performance, it's a woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: underwritten role, one that's primarily reactive in nature. Howard, one of Hollywood's most expert craftsmen, has surrounded himself with a great team, including cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose superlative work on the Coens' inky ``The Man Who Wasn't There'' will likely overshadow o·ver·shad·ow tr.v. o·ver·shad·owed, o·ver·shad·ow·ing, o·ver·shad·ows 1. To cast a shadow over; darken or obscure. 2. To make insignificant by comparison; dominate. his fine effort here. (Watch the colors darken dark·en v. dark·ened, dark·en·ing, dark·ens v.tr. 1. a. To make dark or darker. b. To give a darker hue to. 2. To fill with sadness; make gloomy. 3. as Nash descends into dementia.) Another veteran, composer James Horner, contributes a score that lyrically illustrates the fragility of Nash's condition. Of course, nothing conveys Nash's journey better than Crowe's acting, which transcends the script's simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple weaknesses to give us a remarkably believable portrait of a man coping with the loss of his pride and joy - his intellect. If ``A Beautiful Mind'' too often smooths the edges of a difficult life (Nash's bisexuality and divorce from his wife are ignored), Crowe doggedly resists resorting to acting cliches to show the man's pain and terror. His work here is indeed a thing of beauty. ``A BEAUTIFUL MIND'' (Rated PG-13: intense thematic material, sexual content and a scene of violence) The stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany. Behind the scenes: Directed by Ron Howard. Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman. Released by Universal Pictures. Running time: Two hours, 7 minutes. Playing: General Cinema's Avco in Westwood; AMC's Century 14 in Century City. Expands wide on Jan. 4. Our rating: Three stars CAPTION(S): photo |
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