Review: Love & Mercy

There will always be the belief in the world that in order to be a true artistic genius, you have to be crazy. Unfortunately, those who actually live it don't take quite as much pride in it as those who hold that belief. This is the situation in director Bill Pohlad's LOVE & MERCY. As nearly imperceptibly staged Super-16 footage ushers us into the world of the Beach Boys, pre-"Pet Sounds", expect to be lulled into the secure feeling of stardom -- only to be dropped abruptly into a car dealership and fed the words "Lonely, scared, frightened".

If that isn't a cryptic enough draw for the film, I will comment that LOVE & MERCY is not your typical biopic. In fact, for a story revolving around The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, it really only focuses on two parts of his life: Paul Dano plays Young Brian as he records the album "Pet Sounds", and John Cusack plays Older Brian as he begins his relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), and deals with emotional abuse from his psychiatrist, Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giammati). It's a fascinating back-and-forth, as these two points in life are very much connected by Brian's paranoid schizophrenia.

There aren't too many negative things to say about this movie. Dano is goofy and off-kilter, leading us through the deterioration stage with ease, and Cusack really nails Brian's fragile state. Banks is a gem, as always, though her onscreen chemistry with Cusack feels more like a relationship between a social worker and her charge and less like a couple in love. Paul Giamatti presents his own, subtle-but-horrifying version of crazy. For Older Brian's track, the story makes a clear switch to Melinda as the protagonist, given Brian's inability to take charge.

But of course, the sound work is hands down the best part of the film. The revamped music is seamless with the original works, and the rest of the soundtrack only fleshes out the inner workings of Brian Wilson's mind -- the sound, and the lack thereof, as many times snippets of dialogue are muted out. Perhaps this is to balance the voices that live inside the man's head.

For fans of the Beach Boys, this is a must-see, and for those who aren't fans, see it anyway. It's just that good. LOVE & MERCY is now playing at the Midtown Cinema!