Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks
Love & Mercy is an account of the personal life and work
of Brian Wilson (Cusack, Dano, Jeff Holman) who achieved international fame and
recognition as a member of the Beach Boys. Here, the story centres on two
particular periods of Wilson’s personal life; one as a young Wilson struggles
to record the albums Pet Sounds and SMiLE whilst slipping into a psychological
breakdown, the other showing a middle-aged Wilson and his relationship with a
woman named Melinda Leadbetter (Banks) who tries to free a mentally and
emotionally fragile Wilson from the influence of his domineering doctor/carer,
Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).
Biopics can be a tricky business; the means by which to take
a real person’s life story and condense it into a film is difficult because of
the sheer amount of experiences and is why biopics tend to be on the lengthier end
when it comes to run-time. The idea of doing a film about the history of the
Beach Boys, one of the most successful and turbulent pop groups of all time,
would be out of the question (even a mini-series would be a stretch) as can be evidenced
by Love & Mercy, a two-hour heavily-detailed film about Brian Wilson that
only covers two specific periods in his life. It may only be a look at Wilson
in two different periods, save for the odd diversion, but through these
episodes we see a more elaborate picture of a man whose personal troubles made
him something of an enigma, even now.
John Cusack and Paul Dano are the two main players in the
role of Brian Wilson and both portray him somewhat differently, even when
accounting for the change in personality that naturally comes with age. Paul
Dano’s performance as Wilson is very much in Dano’s traditional mould;
alternating between brooding and manic, with hyper-emotional freakouts being
something of a Dano trademark, but he is clearly giving his all and there’s a
vulnerability and naturalism to the portrayal that works. Cusack’s take on the
role is equally vulnerable, if not more-so, but more soft-spoken and rather
endearing. Both actors stand out but neither is clearly better or worse than
the other though Cusack’s nuanced work does overshadow Elizabeth Banks’s love
interest which is more of an inherent flaw with how the film works rather than
anyone’s particular failing.
Paul Giamatti also stands out as Eugene Landy, Brian Wilson’s
manipulative physician. Giamatti is one of the most prolific actors in
Hollywood today and in particular has a habit of appearing in films based on
real events (he is soon to also appear in Straight Outta Compton, a film about
legendary rap group N.W.A), his performance as Landy is fully without sympathy
or humanity, bordering on an absurd villain prone to dramatic outbursts and
vile behaviour. Landy’s actions did have dire real consequences and feedback on
the film from Brian Wilson himself has indicated that the portrayal of Landy
was not an exaggeration, but whilst I have no reason to defend Landy (indeed,
any semblance to his actions shown here would give no reason for thinking he
was a nice guy) the very nature of the character seems one-dimensional. Brian’s
abusive father Murry (played by Bill Camp) is similarly slimy but the
adversarial nature of the relationship with fellow Beach Boy Mike Love (Jake
Abel) seems the most grounded and reasoned.
In addition to the film using different actors to portray
the different eras of Brian Wilson’s life, the aesthetic is also different,
with the film being treated to look like it comes from the period in which the
two separate halves were set (Dano’s half being the 1960’s, Cusack’s being the
1980’s) but also having slight differences in narrative. Whilst most of the
film is fairly conventional in how the story is told, the footage of the Beach
Boys recording in the studio has a raw pseudo-documentary vibe that is really
where the film is at its most interesting.
There’s a lot to love about Love And Mercy; for all that it
deals with some very tough subjects it is also something of a celebration of
the Beach Boys and the wonderful music that they made, particularly with Pet
Sounds (Paul Dano even has a handle on Wilson’s singing voice akin to Val
Kilmer’s transformative turn as Jim Morrison in The Doors (1992)). As a portrait
of Brian Wilson and his troubles it may be less satisfactory, but that’s a risk
that still pays off a little in the film. The real truth is that when you hear
the music of the Beach Boys you hear sunshine and joy despite their occasionally
painful and tragic story. That may be an example of dissonance, but it also is
rather heart-warming in how it gives a sense of cheery determination; a spirit
that the film does well to serve.
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