Review of Love & Mercy (2015) by Rohnjay — 05 Jun 2015

Brilliant film about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys that blows up the usual "great man" biopic formula and instead focuses on two amazing periods in Wilson's life--the 1960s when he transitioned from writing pseudo-surf music to the epic album ":Pet Sounds," and the 1980s when an obese, drug-addled Wilson was seduced by a phony psychologist only to be saved by a female car salesperson.

To accomplish this feat the director Bill Pohlad (sp?) hired two actors---Paul Dano plays the doughy 1960s boy genius Brian Wilson and John Cusack plays the 1980s battered, broken Brian Wilson. The trick works magically.

Unlike most music biopics this one takes you deep into the creative process using what I think are the original recordings. It would have been easy to make a lush, conventional music biopic given the gorgeous Beach Boys soundtrack.

To the filmmaker's credit, he pushed beyond conventions and found real truth--a bit like Brian Wilson himself. Don't miss it.