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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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A Beautiful Mind
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DVD Drama
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Written by Abbie Bernstein
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Tuesday, 11 January 2005
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title:
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A Beautiful Mind |
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studio:
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Universal Studios Home Video |
| MPAA rating: |
PG-13 |
| starring: |
Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Paul Bettany |
| release year: |
2001 |
| film rating: |
Four Stars |
| sound/picture: |
Three-and-a-Half Stars |
| reviewed by: |
Abbie Bernstein |
Last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner "A Beautiful Mind" is fascinating
viewing, both as a story in its own right and because its protagonist,
Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, Jr. (played by Russell
Crowe), is a real-life figure. Much has been made in the press of the
movie’s divergence from historical fact about the man, but it still has
undeniable power.
In 1947, the young Nash arrives at Princeton University with a brain
full of mathematical gifts and virtually no skills at human
interaction. Despite this, he forms a strong friendship with his
outgoing British roommate Charles (Paul Bettany) and forges more
tentative bonds with a few of his fellow mathematics students (Adam
Goldberg, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp). Nash shows signs of mental
imbalance under the strain of trying to come up with a truly original
idea under pressure, but when he succeeds, he’s hailed as a genius.
After graduation, Nash lands at MIT, reluctantly teaching classes while
immersed in all-consuming research. Nash is courted romantically by one
of his physics students, the forthright Alicia Larde (Jennifer
Connelly) and recruited for top-secret government decryption work by
the mysterious Parcher (Ed Harris). As before, the hard work – along
with the secrecy – start taking their toll, and it looks as though Nash
may be headed for the breakdown he avoided in college …
The precise nature of what’s wrong with Nash’s beautiful mind is
genuinely shocking, one of those terrific cinematic twists that is
intelligent and well-hidden in plain sight. Director Ron Howard and
screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who both won Oscars for their work here,
using Sylvia Nasar’s nonfiction biography of Nash as a basis, manage
this narrative twist perfectly and then build upon it, so that our
concern as to whether and how Nash will ever be healthy increase as the
film proceeds.
Crowe is thoroughly convincing as Nash, getting us to comprehend his
actions, however strange they appear to others. We are shown the
preoccupation behind Nash’s often rude, distracted manner. Connelly,
who won a Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Alicia, exhibits
appealing brightness and strength in a part that begins with deceptive
simplicity and becomes something memorable. Harris by turns instills in
Nash (and in us) confidence and dread, creating a figure who is
appropriately enigmatic, while Bettany is deeply likable.
"A Beautiful Mind" causes us to care greatly for the characters and
empathize with their confusion and misery. The filmmakers also do a
good job of giving viewers with little understanding of arithmetic some
comprehension of what’s going on in Nash’s mind, using visual
techniques reminiscent of those in "Little Man Tate" to illustrate his
thought processes.
The film comes to DVD in an extras-laden two-disc set. The picture
quality is usually sharp and lovely, although there are a few shots –
especially a psychiatrist’s office sequence in Chapter 13 – where white
elements glow and bleed a bit. The transfer is faithful to Howard’s
vision of warm reddish-gold lighting in the early, nostalgic sequences
and cooler hues as Nash’s situation becomes grimmer.
The sound on the film proper is surprisingly quiet. After a lush swell
of music in Chapter 1, the volume plummets for the first dialogue
sequence in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 has nice detail on effects like a hand
slapping a face and a pane of glass breaking, but the latter sounds as
though it is at the same volume level as a desk crashing out a window
and landing on the pavement one story below, which should surely be
somewhat louder. Chapter 6 has an interesting effect as Nash hears
whispering all around him, clean and precise rather than buzzing.
Chapter 12 has some rather plinky gunshots, but the lack of resonance
may be deliberate for reasons that become clear slightly later in the
story. Chapter 16 has a strong, enveloping hiss that represents an
aural aspect of the apprehension rising in Nash’s mind, and there are
realistic storm effects in all speakers.
Directional sound is not utilized much. A jackhammer that is visually
located screen left pounds away in the center speaker in Chapter 7, and
an auditorium full of people applauding in Chapter 19 keeps the sound
primarily in the center and mains rather than trying to make us feel
encompassed by the crowd. However, the balance between the dialogue,
James Horner’s handsome score and ambient sound is maintained well
throughout.
Director Howard and screenwriter Goldsman each have an intelligent,
informative commentary with the film. There is an unusual amount of
deleted scenes, with an appealing verbal introduction by Howard. His
commentary is invaluable on first viewing of the deleted footage,
providing much-needed context. Each deleted scene shows up as a
separate chapter on the DVD player, but they aren’t itemized as menu
selections – should you want to find a particular one, you’ll need to
use the "skip forward" button to reach it. The deleted scenes (with the
exception of one marred by grease pencil markings) are in extremely
good condition.
The second disc contains a multitude of interviews, featurettes on
various aspects of the film and, perhaps most intriguingly, a look at
the real Nash, providing an intriguing contrast with Crowe’s version of
him.
"A Beautiful Mind" achieves its goals on an uncommonly high number of
levels, emerging as an imaginative, provocative drama that also
functions as a thriller and a love story, with some thought-provoking
looks at how human interactions can translate into mathematical
equations and back into something that affects society.
| more details |
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sound format:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround; French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround |
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aspect ratio(s):
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1.85:1 |
| special features: |
Audio
Commentary by Director Ron Howard; Audio Commentary by Screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman; Deleted Scenes With Optional Director Commentary;
Making-Of Featurette; Featurette on Partnership Between Director Ron
Howard and Producer Brian Grazer; Featurette on Development of
Screenplay; Featurette on Real John Nash; Accepting the Nobel Prize in
Economics; Casting Featurette; Age Makeup Featurette; Storyboard
Comparisons; Special Effects Featurette; Music Score Featurette;
Reactions of Producer Brian Grazer, Director Ron Howard, Actress
Jennifer Connelly and Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to Winning Academy
Awards; Production Notes; Cast and Crew Filmographies; Theatrical
Trailer;, Spanish Subtitles; English Closed-Captioning; DVD-ROM Features |
| comments: |
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| reference system |
| DVD player: |
Kenwood DV-403 |
| receiver: |
Kenwood VR-407 |
| main speakers: |
Paradigm Atom |
| center speaker: |
Paradigm CC-170 |
| rear speakers: |
Paradigm ADP-70 |
| subwoofer: |
Paradigm PDR-10 |
| monitor: |
27-inch Toshiba |
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