the nature of genius

While we're on the subject of film... I recently saw Scorsese’s latest, The Aviator. It probably will win best picture, because, as I read somewhere, Holllywood will love the fact that it’s about one of its own. Besides that, it’s A Beautiful Mind all over again. We know the formula already, but it’s still a chicken or the egg proposition: is madness a prerequisite for genius or does genius inexorably lead to madness? I liked the film (Leo has grown up a bit, but it was really Cate’s Kate that won me over) but I came away (again) with that uncomfortable feeling that in our day and age, it’s cute to be crazy. Anyone who’s ever dealt first hand with these issues knows, genius/originality/insight aside, it’s not.