Stars:
Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany,
Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas, and Vivien Cardone
Writer:
Akiva Goldsman
Based
On The Book By: Sylvia Nasar
Director:
Ron Howard
Feature
length: 2 hours and 16 minutes
Disc
One Extras: Feature Commentary With Director Ron Howard, Feature Commentary With
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, Deleted Scenes With Optional Director’s
Commentary, Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers Information, DVD-ROM Features
Including Total Axess®
Disc
Two Extras: A Beautiful Partnership: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, Development Of
The Screenplay, Meeting John Nash, Footage Of John Nash Accepting The Nobel
Prize In Economics, Casting Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, The Process Of
Age Progression, Storyboard Comparisons, Creation Of The Special Effects,
Scoring The Film, Inside “A Beautiful Mind” Making Of, Academy Awards
Reactions From The Winners Related To The Film, Theatrical Trailer, Soundtrack
Spot, and Bonus Trailers
Languages:
English and French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2001/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
did not see Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind” on the big screen in part
because of the criticism about the film’s creative license with the
biographical dramatization of John Nash’s story, but after seeing the film I
have to say that in hindsight those criticisms were unfair not only because it
is impossible to make a feature film that is completely biographically correct,
but actually whatever liberties have been taken were more to the overall benefit
of the film in terms of education as well as entertainment. It is extremely rare
that a feature film combines these two elements with such graceful balance. So
the Oscars for Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Akiva Goldsman, and Jennifer Connelly
were all well deserved and though he did not get a second Oscar for his work in
the film, Russell Crowe’s acting is top shelf.
The
story of John Nash as portrayed in “A Beautiful Mind” is truly a tale of
triumph of adversity and an important film that deals with the subject of
schizophrenia in a manner that never belittles the viewer or trivializes the
disease. In fact for anyone who has ever known anyone who has suffered from a
form of mental illness, regardless how serious it might be or if you now reading
this might be a person living with mental illness, “A Beautiful Mind” is
recommended viewing regardless. I think the execution of the film in terms of
storytelling is truly enlightening and very entertaining so much that to reveal
anything more specific I fear would detract from the first time viewing
experience.
Universal
Home Entertainment’s “A Beautiful Mind: The Two-Disc Awards Edition:
Widescreen” presents the feature in a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1)
aspect ratio with no anomalies, color bleeding, and compression grain
whatsoever. The picture is consistently sharp and retains a film like quality on
DVD. A very full and well-rounded English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack
is provided along with a French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack
as well as English Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language
Subtitles encoded on to the dual layered DVD as options. Producer and Director
Ron Howard delivers a screen specific and thoughtful feature length audio
commentary track along with a second feature length audio commentary track with
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, which compliments Howard’s commentary and rarely
ever repeats the same information one has heard on the other commentary. Both
are excellent feature length audio commentary tracks and well worth listening
to, however as with any of the extra features in this two-disc set, it would be
a tremendous spoiler to listen to or view any of the extra value materials
included until one has viewed the film, which itself yields to multiple viewings
for the various nuances one might have missed during the previous viewing.
Producer
and Director Ron Howard provides an optional commentary for 18 deleted scenes as
one 27-minute reel with a letterboxed somewhat lower quality presentation and
English Stereo Sound. There are extensive cast and filmmaker biographic
information and credits as well as production notes that can be read on screen.
Windows 95 or higher DVD-ROM users with access to the Internet also have
exclusive access to Universal’s “Total Axess®” feature, which gives DVD-ROM
users a gateway to video clips and additional behind-the-scenes features and new
content that is updated every week that enhances the DVD movie experience for
the consumer.
Disc
two is single layered and contains the balance of the extra features, which are
mostly featurettes and such. “A Beautiful Partnership” is a 5-minute
exposition with Ron Howard and Brian Glazer discussing how both of them were
very interested in the book that would inspire the film and how the two friends
and business partners ultimately collaborated on committing to produce the film
together. “Inside A Writer’s Mind” features a videotaped interview with
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman as well as behind-the-scenes footage covering the
development process of writing the screenplay. This featurettes runs a little
over 8-minutes. “Meeting John Nash” is a videotaped featurette of the real
John Nash giving a personal lecture to Director Ron Howard, which for me might
as well have been another language since math has never been my strong suit.
Actual footage of Nash receiving the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics in Stockholm,
Sweden is also included. I must state that this is nothing like the presentation
scene in the film. In fact I found seeing the clip quite educational and
interesting.
There
is a 6-minute featurette regarding the casting of Russell Crowe and Jennifer
Connelly as well as a very interesting interview with makeup effects designer
Greg Cannon, who goes into great detail illustrating the subtle changes in the
makeup that slowly age the characters in a gradual fashion that is amazing
because much of the film was shot in sequence for various purposes and
throughout much of the film, the gradual makeup changes appear so natural that I
think my conscious mind did not even register the changes until the later half
of the feature. The subtle use of special computer generated effects is also
demonstrated in a complimentary featurette with Digital Domain’s Kevin Mack.
There
are 5 storyboards to completed scene comparisons with the boards appearing below
the filmed scene and a five-minute featurette on scoring the film. A more
traditional making of documentary is included along with the clip of Howard and
Grazer accepting their Oscars® for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards®
and three brief behind the scenes clips with Howard, Grazer, Goldsman, and
Connelly addressing the press after just winning their awards.
The
theatrical trailer for “A Beautiful Mind” as well as a music spot and
promotional trailers for other titles available on “Collector’s Edition”
DVD from Universal that include “Apollo 13,” “The Family Man,” “Patch
Adams,” and “K-PAX” wrap up the extra features included in this two-disc
set. The main menu for both discs features full motion scenes from the film and
animated transitions to subsequent standard interactive still frame menus and
all are easy to navigate.
“A
Beautiful Mind: The Two-Disc Awards Edition: Widescreen” will debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 from Universal Home Entertainment and I highly
recommend picking up a copy of this set for anyone’s personal DVD library.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.