Love and Mercy - 2015
Rating - 15
Runtime - 113 mins
Director - Bill Pohlad
Written by - Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner
Starring - Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti
Love and Mercy is a 2015 comedy drama biopic, based on the life of Brian Wilson - singer, musician, producer and composer, best known as a member and co-founder of The Beach Boys, which originally consisted of him, his brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love and close friend Al Jardine.
This dramatisation of Brian Wilson’s life, named after a song from his debut solo album, co-stars Paul Dano and John Cusack as Wilson. Dano portrays him during the 60’s and 70’s, at the height of The Beach Boys success, his relationship with his bandmates and his abusive father, Murry (Bill Camp). While Cusack portrays him during the late 80’s and 90’s, when Wilson was under the constant care of Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) while trying to sustain a relationship with car saleswoman and his future wife Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks).
The film focuses heavily on Wilson’s mental health during these periods, from his nervous breakdown in 1964 which made him quit touring, to his guardianship from Dr. Eugene Landy, who had his medical licence revoked in 1992 after a lawsuit from the Wilson family for his unfair treatment of Brian Wilson led to him receiving a restraining order.
The scenes in the 60’s show the creation of the album Pet Sounds, which is frequently labelled one of the greatest albums of all time, and its follow-up Smiley Smile, the remains of the ill-fated Smile sessions. Also touched upon is how Wilson intended to make Pet Sounds sound like Rubber Soul, The Beatles most recent album at that time. Paul McCartney has since cited Pet Sounds as a big influence for The Beatles 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, another record considered one of the greatest ever.
Love and Mercy was nominated for two Golden Globes - One Kind of Love by Brian Wilson for Best Original Song and Paul Dano for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
The film has also been said to be fairly accurate to history, except for a few smaller details. Wilson himself had little involvement in the making of the film but has since its release praised the casting, historical accuracy and the portrayals of himself. His wife and now manager, Melinda Ledbetter, was a consultant for the writing of the 80’s and 90’s scenes and has said that Dr. Landy’s treatment was much worse than what is shown in the movie.
The Beach Boys seem highly underrated by most for how much they affected rock and pop music, especially in the 1960’s. They have had 36 songs feature in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (more than any other American band). They were also revolutionary in the early stages of psychedelia, lo-fi, prog rock and power pop and practically single handedly created surf rock. Their album Pet Sounds was innovative in the role of production in music: using a 20-piece orchestra on a rock record, taking influence from a myriad of genres and using things that would never be considered instruments like bicycle horns and soda cans on songs. Listening to that album is truly a unique experience.
Though it has its darker patches and is much more poignant than you’d expect, this portrayal of Wilson’s life is phenomenally executed. Paul Dano - best known for films like There Will Be Blood, 12 Years a Slave, Okja, and more recently The Batman - is for sure the highlight of the movie and his peformance in Love and Mercy has to be one of the best performances of his career.
John Cusack’s performance is fantastic and shows Wilson as a more broken man than previously seen. It’s tragic to see the treatment he received for Eugene Landy and seeing that he got out of it was a relief. Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of Landy feels terrifying to watch and Elizabeth Banks’ Ledbetter is exquisite. The script is well written and the direction and look feels authentic and fits both eras shown perfectly. This is a refreshing take on the often formulated music biopic and a fitting tribute to the man who changed the face of popular music forever.
Score - 8/10
Love and Mercy is available on BBC iPlayer until July 17th.
Trailer link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3atb-ykMR0Y
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