Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Christopher Plummer

Director: Ron Howard

Summary: Director Ron Howard delivers his finest effort with his extraordinary film, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001. Based loosely on Sylvia Nasar's acclaimed biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash, the film is a compelling look at one man's genius, his debilitating mental illness, and the fine line between the two. A BEAUTIFUL MIND begins with Nash (Russell Crowe) at Princeton, where he struggles to think of an original idea, and the stroke of genius that will make him matter. Nash is eccentric, socially awkward, and extremely competitive. Eventually, he finds the inspiration for his innovative and influential work on game theory. He's chosen for a post at MIT, which includes crucial code-breaking work for the US government. There, he meets a beautiful and brilliant student, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly). They marry but their happiness is threatened, as Nash, belatedly diagnosed as schizophrenic, descends into madness. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman cannily condenses Nash's story, and the film manages to dramatise both Nash's mathematical brilliance and his schizophrenia in a compellingly visual manner. Crowe delivers a strong performance, and has real chemistry with Connelly. The two make the film's story about the power of love believable and moving.

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A Beautiful Mindis an award-winning movie if ever there was one. This biopic of mathematician John Forbes Nash is two parts Shineto one part Good Will Hunting. Scripted by Akiva Goldsman (Lost in Space) and directed by Ron Howard (The Grinch)--both trying to get sincere and serious after previous movies--it showcases a big, compelling performance from Russell Crowe as a genius whose eccentricities turn out to be down to a genuine mental illness. Though his early work as a student offered a breakthrough that eventually won him the 1994 Nobel Prize, Nash goes off the deep end in later life.

The film works better in the early paranoid stretches--which include a wonderful 1950s spy movie parody as Nash is sucked into an imagined world of fighting commie atom spies--than it does with the inspirational ending, where Nash's handicaps are overcome so he can triumph at the end. Crowe's genuinely fine work still seems a bit Shine/Rain Man/Forrest Gump-ish in mannerism, yet experience shows this can be a powerful career move. Crowe gains sterling support from Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Paul Bettany and Christopher Plummer--some playing a mere character in Nash's world. --Kim Newman

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	Hungarian
Year:	2001
Release Date:	February 20, 2006
Runtime:	130 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	830 220 6
Keywords:	Two, Mind, Beautiful, General, Drama, Slipcase, Discs
Genre:	Drama