LOVE AND MERCY

LOVE AND MERCY, a flick about the travails and artistry and in a sense comeback of The Beach Boy's founder Brian Wilson, is a good solid story told in an interesting way.

The film jumps back and forth between young Brian in the mid 1960's during the recording of PET SOUNDS showing the different pressures put on him and his deteriorating mental state and Brian in the 1980's under the control of evil psychiatrist/guardian Dr Eugene Landy and his meeting his second wife Marilyn Ledbetter who helps him escape Landy's clutches and get back on track.

Paul Dano is very good as the 60's Brian as he looks a bit like him. As the 80's Brian, John Cusack has down the twitches and inflections of a man struggling with mental illness but looks nothing like Wilson.

Both actors almost have the movie stolen from them by Paul Giamatti's show stopping turn as Landy. He is often (within the same scene) manipulative, charming, narcissistic, scary. A Best Supporting Actor nomination should have gone his way for this. Elizabeth Banks also does an adequate job as Ledbetter helped by her astonishingly perfect good looks.

I also really liked how this film dealt with the onset of mental illness. The scenes where Dano begins to lose control and hear voices is handled subtlety and with a subdued drama at first that makes the impact more powerful when everything explodes.

The studio scenes wherein they are putting together PET SOUNDS have enough music nerd minutia that it should satisfy the Wilsonphile.

My only complaint about this film is how historically accurate it is 1.) While Marilyn Ledbetter did lay a part in Brian's rejuvenation, my recollection from reading different bios is that it was Carl Wilson who actually was the one who led the charge against Landy and not because Marilyn prodded him 2.) While Mike Love does come across a jerk, every one who was witness to these times and Love in general has cast as him as the biggest asshole of all time which is common knowledge in pop culture. It's a Love lite - perhaps he had some say on the movie's content?

In any event, good film especially for Brian Wilson fans.