Review of Love & Mercy (2015) by Krzysztof D — 23 Sep 2015

"You need to get back to yourself".

I'm on board with any music related biopic, regardless of decade, genre of music or whether or not I even like the artists group. It's usually a fascinating story showing the tortured soul of the musicians rise to fame - through managers, family problems and any other number of things. Occasionally the whole tortured soul thing is a gimmick used to amplify things for the audience. Yep, you guessed it the story of 'Brian Wilson' (Paul Dano/ John Cusack) (assuming this is 100% true) genuinely applies to the tortured soul motif.

However, I do now feel full of cringe feelings for using that phrase.

My knowledge of 'The Beach Boys', 'Brian Wilson' and even this film are next to none. Iv'e heard of all three - the music and a trailer for the movie. I didn't even now it specifically about 'Brian Wilson' so my ignorance was in full force go into it. There are glimpses of childhood but it doesn't start there. Opting instead to start in the 1980s where 'Brian' first meets 'Melinda' (Elizabeth Banks) a car saleswomen who he takes a shine to. It's oddly paced particularly in the beginning with it almost literally switching between 1980s and height of 'Beach Boys' fame in the 1960s every 5 minutes. It gets a little difficult to get a gripe of things at the start but things eventually spread out. It has a nice balance of the two eras and neither really stand out from one or other.

Both 'Dano' and 'Cusack' do well enough and when it gets to the severe state 'Brian' was in (in both 60s and 80s) it can be quite startling. But doesn't go far enough, the reveal of what 'Eugene Landy' (Paul Giamatti playing another nice at first guy) is doing is horrible but the film doesn't give it much weight - or show it for how severe it is. It's more of a "oh wow" than a horrified gasp. For all the excellent casting and performances (Dano and Cusack are wonderful) aside when something like that severity crops up or when 'Brian' starts to fall apart it all feels a little, understated.

The use of the bands music throughout is one of the smartest Iv'e seen used. Holding back the urge to use them at every and any interval. It's intertwined in Brian's battle with his own psyche with swirling music cues from their various songs all-together. That's the films narrative strength - almost beautifully - showcasing Brian's inner thoughts and eventually battle with schizophrenia.

The plaudits should rightfully go to the acting of both 'Cusack' and 'Dano' because in the end it's all just decent. The story is decent but lacks the punch it needs in emotionally charged scenes. All the way through I was interested without being totally engaged, I constantly felt disappointed and I'm not sure why. There's nothing bad here, it's all just very inoffensive.