Love & Mercy (2015)

Best movie ever!

Admirable film.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's time to kick off the summer of reviews! And what better way to do so than with Beach Boys? And so we begin with Love & Mercy, with Paul Dano and John Cusack portraying Brian Wilson in his younger and middle years respectively. I have been a fan of Dano ever since I saw his haunting acting in Prisoners, and he has worked his way up in movies such as 12 Years a Slave. And boy does he shine through here. Not only does he look and act the part, he also sounds the part. And when doing a musical biopic, sounding the part is pretty important and impressive.Now I am a casual Beach Boys fan and really didn't look into their career before this film, but there is really a story to behold. The Dano years of the 60s experiments with LSD and all the typical band stuff from that decade, and it shows the complex mindset of the spontaneous and wonderful mind of Brian Wilson. And you get plenty of good vibrations because you get to listen to a lot of great songs.Go forward a couple of decades to the slightly eccentric Cusack who buys a car from the beautiful Elizabeth Banks who switches up from her usual comedic roles to be a more serious, "good" character without too much depth (she's not the focus, but is a driving force and provides romantic connections). Gradually, as she dates the divorced Wilson, she discovers the manipulative therapist Paul Giamatti who has kept Wilson away from all of his family for a solid 2 years at least.These scenes switch back and forth, and it is a solid dynamic to keep the interest fresh for what might be off-putting to some when they hear "biopic." You will be engaged and committed, especially if you're like me and are unfamiliar with Wilson's life, but you will also see some missed potential. At just over 2 hours, not all scenes hit the mark and tiptoe through the area marked fluff. There isn't always the intensity wanted in the Cusack scenes, so the powerful moments are toned down just a bit. But, then again, hearing Paul Giamatti yell "SLUT!" over and over can't be all bad.Generally speaking, the Dano scenes are better and what I continued to look forward to in the movie. He does the best acting, and watching his methods to find the perfect melodies while his domestic life has its struggles is engrossing and worth the watch. And again, listening to the formulation of the songs is a big treat.There isn't much to boast about directing, but the incredible performance by Dano and the more suppressed and gloomy Cusack are attention-grabbing enough if for some reason Beach Boys wasn't. Ultimately, you'll come away with new appreciation and curiosity about the band that was briefly even more popular than The Beatles, and that is always a success in the mind of a filmmaker.

Yay! The sound of the beach - Round, Round get around - I get around - this movie has all the good vibrations of the 60's till it swirls into Brian Wilson's personal hell............and eventual rescue and recovery.Its a biopic and the timeline is incredibly simplified and compressed compared to what Brian actually went through. The real Brian Wilson plays a cameo role singing the movie theme song in an on screen sidebar during the closing credits - the text of which are probably the most unread credits in any recent movie.Featuring a fascinating recreation of the session musicians "The Wrecking Crew" who actually created the sounds of most of the bands of the 60's and early 70's and how they worked.Not a happy go lucky "surf's up" movie but an interesting exploration of one aspect of the times.

The backwards/forwards style and pacing of this movie may put some viewers off but those who stay with it should be enthralled. To date, this is possibly one of the most accessible screen example of telling a story in dual time frames using two different performers. The life of popular musical genius Brian Wilson is quite harrowing - from a manipulative, abusive father to an opportunistic and equally abusive quack "Dr" Eugene Landy. Landy stood to gain a large (and unworthy) share of Brian's legacy - and if not for the eventual intervention of various close family and friends would have succeeded in his attempts to drug Wilson to oblivion.The studio session scenes are highly revealing for the way they demonstrate the parallels of genius and mental instability. They also highlight the respect session musicians held for the time they spent working with Wilson. It seems this venue is possibly where Glen Campbell was introduced to Wilson - before being selected to stand in for Brian during a major tour. Performances, direction, photography and music combine to convincingly tell this talented artists troubled journey up to the present. The use of live, present day, concert footage during the end credits round off a compelling movie experience. While it might mean more to Beach Boys/Wilson followers or those who lived through the early years, it offers equal benefits to any follower of modern musical development.

I've been listening to the Beach Boys for forty years, and I've read most of the books written about the band. LOVE & MERCY is a movie I'd dreamed of seeing for years, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. Paul Dano is superb as the young Brian Wilson, a pure soul in a dirty, greedy world who just wants to make music. The half of the film where he makes the album Pet Sounds, and the song "Good Vibrations," is certainly worth watching. But there's nothing said that isn't self evident. Brian is a genius. Mike is a selfish jerk. Dennis and Carl are dweebs. Father Murray is a monster. All these characters are about an inch deep. The movie doesn't have the conflicts needed for drama, because it's already clear who the hero (or victim) is, and what's going to happen. The only thing that saves the Sixties scenes is the purity and simplicity of Paul Dano's performance. He owns Brian Wilson and makes every scene soar, in and out of the recording studio. Unfortunately, in the Eighties section the older Brian Wilson is played by John Cusack. Cusack is wretchedly miscast and utterly at a loss with playing a character who was shy and fragile as a young man, and who is now practically paralyzed by drugs and mental disability. Cusack is often an effective actor, when he plays aggressive, strong-willed, Irish-American Midwestern bully-boy types, but he doesn't convey vulnerable, timid, or fragile emotions very well. His high speed chatter and ever-so-humble mumbling comes across as more of a creepy put on than a heartbreaking tragedy. The problem is aggravated by the fact that Elizabeth Banks effortlessly outshines him in every scene, combining spunk, glamour, sex appeal, and enormous heart in a completely believable character. There is zero sexual chemistry between these two characters. She's completely authentic while he's mannered, artificial, and grating.But beyond the poor performance of Cusack, LOVE & MERCY is sunk by its own ignorance of Brian Wilson's music. Mean old Murray sneers that "God Only Knows" sounds like a suicide note. So where is the Murray who "cried like a baby" (in Dennis Wilson's words) the first time he heard "Caroline, No?" I don't know about Murray, but something tells me the film makers never listened to "The Lonely Sea" on the SURFING USA album. Or "The Warmth of the Sun" on SHUT DOWN VOL. 2 Do your homework, people! The film makers don't care who Brian Wilson really was. They don't care that he was depressed from the beginning, even during his "fun" period.They just want an icon, in the most literal sense, an inanimate object or symbol for purity and victimization. It's also painfully clear that all the Dr. Landy scenes are told strictly from second wife Melinda's point of view. The "rescue" scenes come across as unintentionally funny (or unintentionally creepy) precisely because the storytelling is so one-sided. Melinda's desire to get control of Brian is so obvious that she ends up looking just as callous and hypocritical as Dr. Landy. Elizabeth Banks is just brilliant enough to make you put up with it, but after the movie is over you feel like you've been had. This is a very pretentious film, with a lot of "artistic" white noise meant to suggest the madness in Brian Wilson's head. There are also some bedroom shots where he sees his past and future self which are clearly a tribute to Stanley Kubrick's 2001. Yet oddly, as I watched the movie I kept thinking of another Kubrick film, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Because the way Brian Wilson keeps getting batted back and forth between Melinda and Dr. Landy really reminded me of Alex being "captured" by the state and then "rescued" by the radical conspirators. Except that when Kubrick told the story, he explored the ambiguities, and made the irony dark and chilling. LOVE & MERCY just sort of hopes you won't notice!