Stories about geniuses often try to craft an empathetic portrayal of complex characters that are portrayed as socially awkward, usually as a by-product of their intelligence. While the range of genre, tone, and quality varies from film to film, the characteristics tend to remain the same. With that in mind, here are ten streamable titles that take a look into the lives of some of cinema’s most notorious geniuses.
Good Will Hunting – Netflix
Gus Van Sant directed this story of Will Hunting, a blue-collar MIT janitor who just so happens to be a self-taught, unrecognized genius. As he struggles to find direction in his life he begins seeing a therapist, played by Robin Williams. The film launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and won them an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay while earning Williams one for Best Supporting Actor.
Imitation Game – iTunes
Loosely-based on the biography “Alan Turing: The Legacy,” Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Turing, one of the men tasked with breaking the enigma code during World War II. While the film was criticized for its historical inaccuracy, several prominent LGBT figures praised the film for bringing Turing’s story to a larger audience.
Jobs – Netflix
Ashton Kutcher stars as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in this biopic that takes us from the innovator’s time at Reed College in the mid-1970s to the introduction of the iPod in 2001. The film was widely panned by critics as well as former Apple employees, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, who called the film entertaining, but criticized its factual oversights.
Pi – Google
Darren Aronofsky’s directorial debut won him acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. The movie follows Max Cohen, a mathematician obsessed with finding an algorithm to help him predict the stock market. What Max finds along with his computer, Euclid, may end up being one of the world’s most sought after discoveries. The movie also features Mark Margolis, who most will remember as Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad.
Real Genius – iTunes
A pre-Top Gun Val Kilmer plays Chris Knight, a senior at the fictional Pacific Tech who’s tasked with developing a chemical laser for an overzealous professor while working alongside a brilliant whiz kid. Naturally, standard 1980s movie hijinks ensue.
A Beautiful Mind – Google
The life story of gifted, yet disturbed mathematician John Nash (played by Russell Crowe) starts by looking at his early accomplishments before examining his bleak years dealing with the effects of his paranoid schizophrenia. It won four Academy Awards in 2002, including Best Picture and Best Director for Ron Howard.
Amadeus – Google
The period film that looks at composer Antonio Salieri and his lifelong rival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a figure whose casual genius overshadows him at every turn, driving Salieri mad in the process. The film won eight Acadamy Awards but its wild historical inaccuracies have caused popular opinion on it to sour.
The Aviator – Netflix
Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed biography of billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) takes its inspiration from the book Howard Hughes: The Secret Life. Like the book, the film looks at Hughes’ time as an innovative film director on the set of Hell’s Angels, his reputation as a Hollywood ladies’ man, his urine jar-collecting downfall (a side-effect of his severe OCD), and his eventual return to the public eye. However, it’s best known for one of the most intense plane crash sequences ever filmed.
