Review of Beautiful Boy (2011) by Jillian L — 24 Apr 2012

A kid walks into his school and opens fire, killing 17 people. Beautiful Boy is about his parents and the hell they go through following his actions. Naturally comparisons are drawn with 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' and they make for excellent companion pieces.

With the same subject matter the two films take entirely different approaches. We Need To Talk ABout Kevin addresses a kid who has had issues since birth. He was essentially born bad... however Beautiful Boy is about a kid who's had everything and snapped.

We're never told why and his parents spend the films trying to figure it out. This movie really affected me. I am always drawn to dark issues because I am fascinated by the psychology. Like serial killers, pedophiles, rapists etc I have a keen curiosity when it comes to mind-sets and examination and Beautiful Boy, despite not focusing on the killer himself, is tied with Elephant as the best of this subject.

It's an important subject, particularly for Americans. Here in Australia with our strict gun laws we sit back and watch with disbelief when these things happen... films like this are important to their culture.

If only more people watched them and asked questions. Michael Sheen is as brilliant as always and Maria Bello is also excellent. They carry this film incredibly...