2015 Directed by Matt Brown
Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during WWI, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy.
Dev Patel Jeremy Irons Toby Jones Devika Bhise Stephen Fry Kevin McNally Jeremy Northam Anthony Calf Pádraic Delaney Shazad Latif Roger Narayan Arundathi Nag Dhritiman Chatterjee Richard Johnson Raghuvir Joshi Malcolm Sinclair San Shella Richard Cunningham Thomas Bewley Pip Barclay David Shaw-Parker Dominic Cazenove Nicholas Agnew Alan Booty Shenagh Govan Alexander Forsyth Enzo Cilenti Elaine Caulfield Alex Bartram Show All…
Edward R. Pressman Joseph Newton Cohen Tristine Skyler Jim Young Jon Katz Sofia Sondervan Phil Hunt Shaun Compton Ross Richard Toussaint Matt Brown Shail Shah Pamela Godfrey Mark Montgomery Gary Ellis Masaaki Tanaka Manraj S. Sekhon Min-Li Tan Swati Bhise Joe Thomas
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El hombre que conocia el infinito, L'Homme qui défiait l'infini
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You know it's a biopic when the hero starts shivering uncontrollably at some point.
I normally don't like math movies. When I see a movie about a subject I am deep into, it can be deeply rewarding to see it portrayed with care and spirit (which is why I love Whiplash so much). But at this point I just can't believe that math can be portrayed well in a film. Maybe if it's only barely related, like in "It's My Turn" where Jill Clayburgh delivers a totally accurate performance of someone explaining the Snake Lemma to her class but it's just a scene to introduce the fact that she's a math professor about to sex Michael Douglas.
I was eager for this one though, because I know little about the particulars of the field…
A mannered and milquetoast period biopic about the short life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, "The Man Who Knew Infinity" opens with a Bertrand Russell quote that conveniently frames its failings: "Mathematics, rightly viewed, posses not only truth but supreme beauty." Writer-director Matthew Brown ("Ropewalk") has made a handsome and well-meaning testament to a rare man, but his film is all truth and no beauty (and that truth has been strained through the filter of historical revisionism and narrative convenience).
me acting like i knew what they were talking about and not like i was just staring at dev the whole time
It's understandable that The Man Who Knew Infinity has trouble trying to make Ramanujan's work accessible to a mainstream audience, given the complexity of his calculations that are still being proven to this day, but the film doesn't even try, giving the audience very little understanding of his work or why exactly it remains so important. Instead it journeys through the standard motions of a biopic, with little unique or insightful about it's subject to distinguish it, despite dealing with the themes of racism and religion, where even the occurrence of the First World War seems like an incidental detail. However, it is elevated by the performances of Dev Patel and especially Jeremy Irons, who breathe life to the friendship at the centre of this story, and the film is never less than cosy and watchable because it's well-made, but it's nowhere near as remarkable as the man it's based on.
Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons doing math, but their sublime acting isn't enough to propel the plot.
Don't be intimidated. Great knowledge comes from the humblest of origins.
-Littlewood
An incredibly weak script propped up by great actors and a great production. Can't remember the last time I watched a biopic that had so little to say on it's subject, but sometimes it managed to be good enough at times that I didn't care. It's hard to not like Jeremy Irons even when he's being a complete ass.
7/10
This was a really enjoyable biopic. It's nothing especially new. Similar ideas are explored more deeply in other oppressed/struggling people doing math movies, but it is a very enjoyable subgenre, what with films like Hidden Figures, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything, and this was an addition to the subgenre that was really quite good. It is pretty moving and inspiring and is ultimately good enough for a good rating.
Added to:
My List (Top 500 Films of All Time)
Ranking: 2018, First Time Watches
