TheEnglishman

I'm not a great fan of reality TV but here is a film that shows you how it should be done. I have no idea whether this is a genuine documentary or an original film script, and frankly I don't care. This film is positive, warm, witty, and fun. Camera work and sound quality are convincingly amateur, and the telephone conversations especially are a bit unclear. There's something about Brian that makes him likable - he's naive, harmless, up-beat. Anyone who likes this should look out some of the TV documentaries made by Louis Theroux - they have a similar style. Theroux tends to tackle more risky subjects, but he has a similar open honesty and humor in his approach.

After reading two of Tom Clancy's books I would say you would get more intellectual challenge by watching "Wheel of Fortune". The characters are flat stereotypes, the plots are obvious, and his background research is at best cursory, at worst completely wrong. However, the film version is incomparably better, thanks to the stylish direction of John McTiernan and an excellent performance by Sean Connery (earning a BAFTA nomination for best actor). In the film, Connery's character, Capt. Ramius, has a depth and purpose - you can understand what's driving him and the whole situation is believable as result. The film is so much better balanced than the horrible flag-waving Clancy novel, it's a shame that TC is given any credit for movie.

This could have been a great film, but we'll have to settle for very good. With the same subject matter of mathematical genius and madness, comparisons with "A Beautiful Mind" are inevitable - and it doesn't quite match up. Not that that is the fault of Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays the unstable and tortured Catherine with beautiful understatement and control. Nor of Sir Anthony Hopkins, who gives an effortless performance. I've seen criticism of Jake Gallenhaal, but as he reminds me of a mathematician that I was at college with, he seemed believable to me. The weakness of the film lies in the script and direction; fearing mathematics is too complex, it was simply ignored - the conjecture that is the subject of the proof, central to the plot, is never even named! Even the mathematical joke, a song called "i", is clumsily flagged in the hope, I suppose, that non-mathematicians will get it. I enjoyed the film but it left me a little disappointed - I do wish film-makers would credit the public with a little more intelligence.