"A Beautiful Mind" Rated PG-13
****/*****
Russell Crowe again proves that he indeed can act, and doesn't only do action movies like Gladiator. For those of you who felt he didn't deserve the Oscar last year (as I felt), this year is a different story. He absolutely deserves a nomination, and possibly a win. His performance as John Forbes Nash, the brilliant yet tortured mathematician is both very touching and very intense. Any movie that is a biography about someone with mental illness is sure to be an acting showcase, however this is different. Crowe does not make us pity Nash (which would be wrong for the movie to do), and it isn't a mocking portrayal at all. It is a very real, performance. He just presents with the problem.
In this case, the problem is schizophrenia. John Nash has every thing ahead of him after college. He graduates from Princeton with high honors, for he has created a truly original idea that has distinguished him from his class members. He goes on to teach, and eventually weds one of his classmates (played beautifully by Jennifer Conolly). It is at this point that the symptoms of his desies start to appear. He envisions some people that he interacts with that aren't real. He believes that he is helping the O.S. government by locating codes in newspapers that aren't really there.
As a whole, the film seemed to wander during the second part. It seemed that the scenes being showed where not related to anything, and just proved points that had already been proven. However, it is a very good story that is directed very well by the versatile Ron Howard. The performances are terrific, and it is a truly inspiring and original film.
