Love & Mercy: Movie About Beach Boys, 2015

After garnering much critical praise since its US release, new Beach Boys movie Love and Mercy follows two periods in the life of singer-songwriter and creator of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, his creative peak and psychological descent in ‘60s California and his confused and broken psychological state in the ‘80s.

The film focusses with a close lens on details of Wilson’s life: this is less a biopic so much as two extended flashbacks, a perfectly pitched examination of two defining moments in his life.

The film starts in 1960s with Paul Dano portraying a young Wilson with frictionless ease. He finds himself lost amidst the extraordinary success of his music with the Beach Boys, their sound the musical accompaniment to the progressive revolution of California’s sunshine coast: the sea, the parties, the drugs.

Their music is twinned with, inspired by and inspiring this hedonistic exploration in young people, and Wilson’s life is changed following a panic attack after it all gets too much. He resigns from touring and sets out to record ‘the greatest album ever made’, which is the genesis of the absolute classic Pet Sounds. But Wilson’s grip on reality is slowly loosening, the wheels of his mind rusting, the axels turning inward, the beginning of his battle with voices and demons of psychosis.

We jump to 1980, and a confused and broken Brian Wilson (John Cusack) is under the spell of therapist Dr Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), who is exploiting the Beach Boy and taking control of his life. Elizabeth Banks is his potential knight in shining armour, wrestling her Prince from the 24 hour watch of Landy.

This is an affecting and touching examination of a genius, tortured by demons both imaginary and real, and is a must see for any music fans. Bill Pohlad directs, and his personal obsession with their sound is evidenced in this touching tribute to Wilson. The musical output of Wilson, that unique sound of perfect chaos, of refined freedom, soundtracks the new Beach Boys movie.