Love & Mercy

Seen at the Roxy Cinema in Nowra, NSW

Bea says: A fantastic film which I really enjoyed - this tells the story of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys through the making of Pet Sounds and afterwards and then again in the 1990s when, after years of drink, drugs and medication for supposed schizophrenia, he meets his second wife-to-be and slowly breaks free of the grip of his "doctor", who has come to control all aspects of his life.

John Cusack plays Wilson well.  This is a packed storyline which doesn't drag at all - we see aspects of Wilson's childhood with his critical and sometimes brutal father, the difficulties he experienced with his fellow Beach Boys as he tried to carve out a creative musical direction for himself and them, and the extreme difficulty he had in breaking free of the people controlling him later on, as well as how all these experiences may have related to each other.  The story is open about Wilson's experiences hearing voices throughout his life, and is an interesting, and at times quite positive, exploration of mental illness, with good portrayal of the crude and often over-used medications of the 1980s and early 90s.  It is pointed out in the closing credits that Wilson's diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was overturned, and there is some great, relatively contemporary footage of Wilson performing his solo work at the end too.

A definite must-see for fans, this is also a really interesting bio for those who are not fans, or weren't aware of the back story behind this interesting musician.
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Cecil says:  A very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning. I always liked the Beach Boys' music anyway (though funnily enough I've never bought any of their records - something I might change having seen this film).

As someone who sings but actually has no musical background or training, I was fascinated also by how Wilson worked to put together some of his best work in the studios. And it was great to see some of the backing musicians they used, who were mostly blokes much older than Wilson and, as one of them said, had worked already with all the greats: Sinatra, Martin, Spector etc, and Wilson was something else!

The film  misses out key moments in his life: what happened to him (and to the whole Beach Boys thing) in the 70s and 80s? How did he get involved at all with the quack psychologist? How on earth did the psychologist get himself so tied up in Wilson's affairs that he had a new will made out leaving everything over to him (and what on earth can a psychologist have been thinking to go down that path)?

I guess Wilson had some say in what sections of his life were revealed, and that's fair enough. The story they put across is compelling and very engaging.

The horrendous father reminds me of other celeb fathers who influence their offspring in such negative ways (I'm thinking Michael Jackson, and a certain tennis player in the news at the moment over here). But as Wilson himself says, there's something about his father's violence that led him to the creative heights he reached.

Elizabeth Banks is very believable, as the car saleswoman who falls for him and eventually helps him escape.

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