Faithful telling of the Brian Wilson story with great performances

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2015)

I first discovered the Pet Sounds album sometime in the mid 90's. I don't think any album before or since then has had quite the same effect on me. I have always listened to a lot of music but there was something about this that immediately told you it was an album apart. When it was released in 1966 it marked a massively ambitious departure with its orchestral approach and heartfelt lyricism combined with an introspective tone and undercurrents of despondency running throughout the record. (The departure from the previous Beach Boys template meant that mostly fans were alienated and it was not a commercial success at the time).
So with my biased unalloyed devotion declared, what then of Love and Mercy the Brian Wilson biopic? This seems to me to be a very faithful telling of the Brian Wilson story. There is no glaring artistic license taken with any of the salient facts of Wilson's life from what I have previously understood, to which I should say- thankfully.
The movies approach is unusual in that the narrative moves back and forth between two different periods of Wilson's life. The first is the period around the mid-sixties leading up to and during the recording of Pet Sounds and then Brian's gradual descent into drug- misuse and mental illness. The second begins in the mid-eighties period at the time that Brian started to emerge from his reclusive state and the malign influence of Dr Eugene Landy his discredited psychotherapist.
While this method of telling Wilson's story may not be to everyone's liking I think it works. By concentrating on these two periods the film makers can delve a little deeper into the subject matter than if say they were to attempt to encompass a wider time-span in his life. An example of this (and probably a highpoint for fans) is the extended time accorded in the movie to the process of Pet Sounds coming together in Studio with Brian in complete control of a large cast of seasoned session musicians.
The performances all round are superb. Of the main players Paul Dano who plays Brian Past lends a brilliant performance to the part of the obsessive and highly sensitive and gifted perfectionist. It helps as well that he bears a striking resemblance to the younger Brian. John Cusack plays the role of Brian Future and he perfectly embodies the damaged and vulnerable elder Brian. Elizabeth Banks imbues the part of Melinda Ledbetter (later Wilson) with strength and instinctive intelligence. Arguably the performance that eclipses them all is the ever superb Paul Giamatti who is near-demonic in his portrayal of Dr Eugene Landy.