Review of Beautiful Boy (2018) by Anthony K — 07 Jan 2019

Is it sad rich white people suffering a luxury disease oscar bait? Yes. Is it a beautifully made character piece crafted with love and at least some artistic integrity? Also yes, definitely. I'm not sure if it proves enough to justify its somewhat exploitative existence, but if the family agreed to share the gory details of their personal story for the benefit of other families that might be like theirs, then I'm certainly a lot more okay with it.

Perhaps its a better film for the parents, one to help them understand the harsh realities of drug addiction in the family, than it is for drug users themselves, where it could sort of be misconstrued as glamorization to an extent, or, at worst, education on how / what to use.