What Keith's Watching: Love & Mercy (2014)

Love & Mercy is a great biopic because it doesn't feel like a biopic. It doesn't take you through Brian Wilson's childhood and the hardships he had to deal with from an abusive father. We don't see that moment when he first started playing music. We don't even see the rise of the Beach Boys. We see a very specific aspect of Brian Wilson's life, how it started, how it may have affected his creative process and how he overcome it.

The film mainly revolves around Brian Wilson's mental health starting in the sixties and eventually how he was properly diagnosed and treated in the eighties. One of the things that really makes Love & Mercy stand out is that these two stories/time periods are covered in parallel. We bounce back and forth between sixties Brian Wilson (portrayed by Paul Dano) and eighties Brian Wilson (portrayed by John Cusack) This seems like a style that would cause problems, but it really works for Love & Mercy. We see how the disorder starts and how the disorder is taken advantage of later in his life.

It's a powerful story that I wasn't really aware of. I know parts of it, but I guess I didn't know the extent of the abuse towards Brian Wilson. Seeing it play out has a more profound impact. I encourage anyone that sees this movie though to read up on the real events. Some of the details were tweaked and for the sake of the story, some characters were marginalized focusing mainly on his second wife, Melinda Ledbetter. Although Brian Wilson did refer to the film as "very factual."

Love & Mercy is part biopic, part music, part drama, part romance and has little something for everyone. Even if you aren't a big Beach Boys fan, I highly recommend it. Maybe it'll turn you into one or at least appreciate Pet Sounds a bit. It definitely got me back into their music and gave me a greater appreciation for Brian Wilson's talents.

[Note: The session musicians Brian worked with for Pet Sounds is also known as The Wrecking Crew and are infamous in the music world. They have a documentary about them, currently on Netflix appropriately called The Wrecking Crew.]