GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
Menu

The Essential 713, made interactive

Find your next
great film.

Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #441 on its own—not above the ranking.
Refine this collection

Your canon

Back up / restore my film dataLoading your progress…Saved only in this browser
Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

Director:
Cast:
View A Beautiful Mind film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Mathematician John Nash pursues an original theory at Princeton while relationships and disturbing perceptions challenge his grasp of reality.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Princeton graduate student John Nash searches obsessively for an original mathematical idea and later works in game theory and government analysis. His marriage to Alicia and experiences he interprets as secret intelligence work place intellectual certainty under pressure.

Why it belongs

A Beautiful Mind makes mathematical ambition and mental illness emotionally accessible through subjective apprehension, Crowe's concentrated Nash, and Connelly's grounded Alicia.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Chalkboards, window equations, pattern montages, campus spaces, coded documents, and shifting points of view place viewers near Nash's certainty before challenging it. Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly make adaptation relational rather than solitary.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Academy Awards4 wins2002 · official ceremony record ↗
Best Picture2002 · Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Producersofficial ceremony record ↗Directing2002 · Ron Howardofficial ceremony record ↗Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)2002 · Written by Akiva Goldsmanofficial ceremony record ↗Actress in a Supporting Role2002 · Jennifer Connellyofficial ceremony record ↗
Golden Globes4 wins2002 · official film record ↗
Best Motion Picture - Drama2002 · A Beautiful Mindofficial film record ↗Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama2002 · Russell Croweofficial film record ↗Best Screenplay - Motion Picture2002 · Akiva Goldsmanofficial film record ↗Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture2002 · Jennifer Connellyofficial film record ↗
BAFTA2 wins2002 · official BAFTA 2002 Film Awards results ↗
Best Actor2002 · Russell Croweofficial BAFTA 2002 Film Awards results ↗Supporting Actress2002 · Jennifer Connellyofficial BAFTA 2002 Film Awards results ↗

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
Date Night
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250157AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness8.3
Engagement8.8
Ease8.6

English · PG-13
Narrative Feature
Mood: Romantic & Reflective