Oscar Loves... Playing Mind Games

This month our Oscarologists gather to discuss two Best Picture winners that explore neurodivergence and mental illness... to very different degrees of success.

Barry Levinson's Rain Man tells the story of Charlie Babitt – played by Tom Cruise – who discovers he has a secret brother with savant syndrome, Raymond, played by Dustin Hoffman, who went on to win the Oscar for Best Leading Actor for his role.

In A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, Russell Crowe portrays John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia throughout his life. Jennifer Connelly portrays his wife, Alicia, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

Thank you to Thomas Whitelaw for our intro music and Rachel Valentine Smith for our artwork.