Flash of Genius is an American biopic in 2008 directed by Marc Abraham. The scenario by Philip Railsback, based on John Seabrook's 1993 New Yorker article by Robert Seabrook, focuses on Robert Kearns and his legal battle against Ford Motor Company when they develop an intermittent windshield wiper based on the idea that the inventor has. patented.
The phrase "flash of genius", after the film is titled, is the patent law terminology prevailing from 1941 to 1952, which states that inventive action must come into the mind of an inventor as a kind of enlightenment and not as a result of tinkering.
Video Flash of Genius (film)
Plot
On the night of her marriage in 1953, the aberrant champagne cork made Robert Kearns college professor (Greg Kinnear) almost completely blind in his left eye. A decade later, she happily married Phyllis (Lauren Graham) and father of six children. As he drives the Ford Galaxie through light rain, the constant motion of the windshield wipers disrupts his troubled view. This incident inspired him to create the eraser blade mechanism modeled on the human eye, which blinks every few seconds rather than continuously.
With financial support from Gil Previck (Dermot Mulroney), Kearns transformed his basement into a laboratory and developed a prototype he tested in a fish tank before installing it in his car. He patented his invention and showed it to Ford researchers, who have worked on similar projects without success. Kearns refused to explain how his mechanism worked until he broke a good deal with the company. Impressed by the results of Kearns, Macklin Tyler's executive (Mitch Pileggi) asked him to prepare a business plan detailing the costs of individual units, which Kearns wanted to make on his own. Considering this as a considerable commitment from the company, Kearns rented a warehouse he planned to use as a factory and went ahead. He presents Ford with the requested pricing information along with the sample units, then awaits their response. Time passed, and when there was no contact with Kearns, he started placing a phone call that was never returned.
Frustrated, Kearns attends a Ford dealer convention where the latest model of the Mustang is unveiled, promoting intermittent wiper as a selling point. Realizing that the company had used his idea without giving him credit or payment for it, Kearns began to descend into such deep desperation that he boarded the Greyhound bus and went to Washington, D.C., where he seemed hoping to find a way out of the law. Instead, Maryland state troops removed him from the bus and drove him to a mental hospital, where he was treated for a nervous breakdown. Finally released when the doctor decides his obsession has subsided, he returns to the home of a broken man, determined to receive public recognition for his achievement. So began the years of legal battle, during which time his wife left him, and he became estranged from his sons.
In the trial, Kearns represented himself after lawyer Gregory Lawson (Alan Alda) withdrew from the case, because Robert refused to stay. Finally, Kearns's ex-wife and children supported him in his efforts. Toward the end of the trial, Ford offered Kearns a US $ 30 million settlement, but without admitting a mistake. Kearns decided to leave his fate in the hands of the jury, which determined that Ford infringed his patent, but that the offense was unintentional. The jury gave him a $ 10.1 million prize. Credit closures show that Robert then won a $ 18.7 million valuation from Chrysler Corporation as well.
Maps Flash of Genius (film)
Cast
- Greg Kinnear as Robert Kearns
- Lauren Graham as Phyllis Kearns
- Dermot Mulroney as Gil Previck
- Alan Alda as Gregory Lawson
- Mitch Pileggi as Macklin Tyler
- Daniel Roebuck as Frank Sertin
- Bill Smitrovich as Judge Michael Franks
- Tim Kelleher as Charles Defao
- Jake Abel as Dennis (21 Years)
- Tatiana Maslany as the older Kathy Kearns
- Ben & amp; Gavin Kuiack as baby Bob Jr Kearns
Production
Marc Abraham, who previously produced The Road to Wellville (1994), Air Force One (1997), and Children of Men (2006) , among many films, has long been interested in Robert Kearns saga for his directing debut because the inventor is more confident in fairness and honesty than the money offered to make him drop his lawsuit. "That's the reason I'm excited about it, it's about principle," the director said. "And the principle is a very gray idea, and that's what I find interesting." He submitted many revisions from the scenario to the head of Universal Studio Stacey Snider, who repeatedly told him, "This is not an easy script, and he's not a person who likes it." Abraham believes what many people consider disliked in Kearns, with whom he consults while developing the film, is what makes him a distinctive character. When Universal undergoes a management change, the project eventually turns green.
The film was taken at locations in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.
The scene when a new Ford lineup with an intermittent wiper was shown for the first time shot at the Queen Elizabeth Theater in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Soundtrack includes "Too Many Fish In The Sea" by Liam Titcomb, "Green Onion" by Booker T. & amp; the M.G.'s, and "Tennessee Waltz" by Aaron Zigman.
The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival before entering into a theatrical release in the United States.
Critical reception
Flash of Genius received mixed and positive reviews. In January 2016, Rotten Tomatoes reported that Flash of Genius had a 59% approval rating with an average rating of 5.9/10, based on 105 reviews. The website consensus reads, "The touching bad story of a man against a big company, Flash of Genius is a good story and well written with outstanding performance by star Greg Kinnear." At Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, showing "mixed or average reviews."
Stephen Holden of The New York Times calls the film "a meticulously crafted mechanism, who wants to convey the same mix of idealism, obsession, and paranoia found in whistle films like Silkwood and The Insider , but thinks it "has the tone and texture of a well-made but forgettable television movie." He adds, " Flash of Genius > will be more gripped if it points to events and convey the terrible physical, emotional and financial costs of Kearns search ".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film tells the story in "loyal and frequent detail". He added, "If it has a handicap, it is that Kearns is not a colorful character, more than a very hard man with tunnel vision.... Kinnear, often a light comedy performer, does a convincing job to make this calm, a tough guy into a gigantic killer. "
Mark Olsen of Los Angeles Times says the movie's problem is that it's desperate to be a Hollywood-style tale of the little guy who wins over the big guy who drove past a lot of subtleties from Kearns Story, smoothing things out so it will not be spoilers to reveal the ending of the story (though I will not do it) because it explicitly marches from a mile away. Flash of Genius desperately wants to be liked, even with her thorny and difficult hero, who lose the mark of intolerance which is needed not only for patents, but also for thrilling and original work.
Todd McCarthy of Variety agrees with Olsen and Holden, describing the film as "a very small potato in the cinematic history of a small, inspirational-inspirational melodrama, to the astonishing point of being regarded as a bigscreen material strong, old-style TV movies will be more like that ". He added, "Outside of the narrative shortage, the film is filmed indifferently, with unusually flat visuals by cinematographer Dante Spinotti and pacing unceremoniously."
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle says biopic "like watching Charlie Brown keep trying, even after the 30th time Lucy pulls soccer away.It's hard to say whether Kearns is noble or stupid, and in the middle movies, most of the sane people in the audience will support him to let go of his fight ". He continued, "Marc Abraham has made a movie like Will Smith-as-plucky-homeless-man drama The Pursuit of Happyness, where two hours of suffering may or may not lead to a single victory" This is an experience which is similar to watching a soccer match 1-0 which was decided in overtime time. Of course, nothing resembles the fun of fun that happened in the first 90 minutes. But oh, that's an overtime goal... "
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "Kinnear takes the place of stars in Flash of Genius and brings it to glory... Kearns does not" A hero film. The limited delivery of his courtroom does not have Hollywood histrionics. Kinnear plays it with a blunt honesty, loosened under a load of stress but retains the bulldog's tenacity that will win the day. Is the battle worth it? Kearns conflict can be read in Kinnear is every word and gesture. His performance is worthy of cheering ".
Kinnear won the Best Actor Award at the 2008 Boston Film Festival.
Box office
The film opened on 1,098 screens in the US on October 3, 2008 and earned US $ 2,251,075 on its opening weekend, ranking # 11. It remained in theaters for only three weeks and eventually grossed US $ 4,442,377 domestically and US $ 183,673 in overseas markets for a worldwide box office total of US $ 4,626,050.
DVD release
The film was released on DVD on February 17, 2009. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and Spanish, with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. Bonus features include comments by Marc Abraham and deleted scenes.
References
External links
- Flash of Genius on IMDb
- Flash of Genius at Rotten Tomatoes
- Flash of Genius
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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