Thursday Movie Picks by Wandering through the Shelves returns. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week, pick three to five movies and share the reason. Should anyone be interested in joining in, feel free to visit the main page here.
This week's theme is: Prodigy or Genius. This kind-of-movie used to be one of my most favorites, when I was awe-struck by mind-blowing movies. For this theme, I personally pick movies about those genius who descends into trouble ironically caused by their brilliant minds. So, here's my picks of movies about prodigy/genius.
01. Proof (2005)Proof is one of the first films I admire for how it narrates its complicated, unreliable narrative. It tells a story of a relationship between a mathematician father and daughter (respectively portrayed by Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow). Both are geniuses in the field they both share; however, their brilliant minds take its toll. The father suffers from mental illness allegedly rooted from his genius; meanwhile, the daughter, although having brilliant mind as well, is over-shadowed by her father. The complicated relationship is seasoned with Hopkins' and Paltrow's engaging performance, along with Jake Gyllenhaal in a supporting role.
02. A Beautiful Mind (2001)Ron Howard's based-on-real-event Best Picture winner is a very poignant story of a brilliant mathematician, who develops paranoid schizophrenia following a dire mission he carries. Russell Crowe as Nobel-winner, John Nash, convinces us that sometimes beautiful, brilliant mind descends into the dark side. However, deep inside, A Beautiful Mind is a beautiful love story takes place in a perplexed mind.
03. Pi (1998)Darren Aronofsky's directorial debut is a monochromatic surreal thriller about a mathematician and his manic obsession with specific numbers, which he relates to the secret of universe. Pi embraces lots of elements from mathematics, economics, even mysticism into one head, creating a quantum leap in a form of psychological thriller.
