‘I’ ON CULTURE
In this season of blockbuster special-effects movies, a small film like Love & Mercy really stands out. It is the fascinating story of the Beach Boys’ tortured genius Brian Wilson, both a musical history and a psychological study.
Director Bill Pohlad switches between two key periods in Wilson’s life, somehow bringing him into sharp focus. This is the kind of film that usually comes out in December, just in time to be up for awards. Frankly, it is better than at least half the movies nominated for Best Picture last year. And the acting is superb. Wilson in the 1960s is played by Paul Dano; in the late 1980s, he is played by John Cusack.
The movie begins in the 1980s when a disheveled Wilson (Cusack) comes into a Cadillac dealership and meets saleswoman Melinda (Elizabeth Banks). She is not quite sure what to make of him until a group of people led by psychotherapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) comes in, introduces Wilson, calls himself Wilson’s “brother by another mother” and pulls him away. On her business card, Wilson has written that he’s lonely and scared.
The scene shifts to the younger Wilson (Dano) at the height of the Beach Boys’ popularity as he begins his seminal album Pet Sounds. The film uses the switches between the two eras to create an indelible image of a brilliant mind collapsing. We see his brothers and friends in the band pushing to do the same kind of music that has made them popular, while he struggles with the new sounds pulsing through his brain. His relationship with his abusive father, Murry (Bill Camp), is a source of pain throughout his life. And, perhaps the worst is the controlling psychotherapist Landy (Giamatti) who diagnoses Wilson as a paranoid schizophrenic and uses massive doses of pills to control his mind.
Melinda connects with Wilson. Through — and perhaps because of — some horrible experiences, she works with Wilson and his family to break Landy’s control. Landy had been able to get himself declared Wilson’s guardian and even had changed his patient’s will in his own favor. Finally, things do work out. Wilson is freed from the doctor’s care (and Landy gives up his license), marries the woman he loves (and has five children with her) and begins performing again.
The performances by Dano and Cusack are exceptional. If one actor had done both, we would be talking about Oscar season as Best Actor. Dano should certainly get nominated in the supporting category. Watching him dealing with his father, his brothers, his music, all in conflict, is almost painful as we see his gradual disintegration through his great album, and particularly that great song Good Vibrations.
Cusack is somewhat more one-dimensional as the older Wilson, to a large degree because his character has been so shattered. But he still manages to show the strength of character that helps him through. Banks is also good. Although a bit brittle at first, her character warms up to the boy/man Wilson and her reactions help provide an outside window into what is happening in the film. Giamatti comes on too strong. For the film to really work, there should have been more subtlety in the performance. He never seems to be anything but the bad guy. Camp is suitably nasty as the father.
The Beach Boys were a key group in the development of rock music, generally undervalued because they were always compared to the Beatles. But the group was amazingly popular, and its music remains popular today. In one of the most painful scenes, Murry tells Brian that he has sold the rights to all the Beach Boys’ songs for three quarters of a million dollars. “Who’ll be listening in five years?” he demands as he demeans his son. A few years later, the Beatles’ catalogue sold for a quarter of a billion dollars.
Wilson is one of the great musical voices, and his life and struggles are a worthwhile topic for a film — and this is a film that is beautifully done. The really popular songs are gotten through in the first minutes of the film, so don’t go for a fun music retrospective. But in a season when sensitive, interesting movies that are well-written, well-directed and well-acted are few, this is one to see.
