Review of Love & Mercy (2015) by Abdulmalik A — 08 Dec 2015

There have been plenty of great musician biopics over the years, but I can't remember there being two incredible ones in the same year. Straight Outta Compton and Love & Mercy are two very different films in terms of structure and story for that matter, but both are equally as gripping and satisfying.

Focusing mostly solely on Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys leader, Love & Mercy tells the story of Brian in the early days of the band, and also his days in his 40's when his therapist controlled most of his life. The film's structure goes back and forth between these two eras with Paul Dano playing Wilson in his early days and John Cusack later on. Both of the performances exude a great amount of pain and suffering while still feeling relatable at the same time. Bill Pohlad also deserves a lot of credit for his ability to weave the two time periods together in seamless fashion.

The music of The Beach Boys will suck you in from the start, but it's really the writing, direction, and performances that keep you watching. The eerie tone is not that of a mainstream film, but that's a good correlation to the not-so-mainstream 'Pet Sounds' album the group worked on for a majority of the early years scenes. The film also does a good job of portraying the crazy genius that Brian Wilson was. His ability to mix song structure and break the norm of music at that time and even stray away from where the group was is unparalleled and extremely risky.

Paul Giamatti plays a similar back-stabbing character as he does in Straight Outta Compton, but it fits perfectly for his strengths. Really, there aren't any real weaknesses of this film. It's captivated throughout and the performances may even be worthy of some recognition come awards season. A job well done.

+Both lead performances.

+Strange tone.

+Bill Pohlad's consistent direction.

+Who doesn't love the music?

8.2/10.