Beached Boy

Rating: 6/10 (19 June 2015)

(Rating: ☆☆ ½ out of 4)
This film is mildly recommended.
In brief: With all its fits and starts, Love &Mercy rarely takes off.
GRADE: B-
Any biopic has the distinct purpose of showcasing its source and the unfathomable obstacles that made this person so significant in our lives. Most are formulaic, based on some factual information with much conjecture, and sentimental manipulative efforts (a bad childhood, a special talent, the highs and lows of a substantial career, etc.) while some, actually very few, are able to be an honest and moving testament to that human being. Love & Mercy, the story of Brian Wilson on Beach Boy fame, does many things right, but it is still standard storytelling that boast a strong performance from one of its actors playing this tortured musician.
￼Yes, one of the actors. There are two actors cast to play Brian Wilson: Paul Dano depicting Brian (Past) as the tortured musical genius and John Cusack is Brian (Future) in his more depressed and sadder mental condition in later years. This idea, of using two physically different people to inhabit one man, may seem a bit daring and creative to many (although the same device was used to ill effect in Bob Dylan's 2007 film biography, I'm Not There, coincidentally written by that same screenwriter, Oren Moverman, with help from Michael Alan Lerner ), but the final result is more foolhardy than inspiring.
Director Bill Pohlad is only partly successful with this film. He overdoes the artsy self- conscious camera movement and jumpy editing techniques. It's hard to pinpoint the real problem, if the cause lies squarely with the director, the two actors impersonating one man concept, or a very conventional script that rarely shows any depth of character as it freely bounces from Brian to Brian in full AAHD mode. The moviegoer is never allowed to settle into one storyline, past or future, long enough before thrown into another scene due to the film's time-traveling format. ￼ This casting stunt is jarring. Dano is just fine as the young Wilson. He captures the recklessness and euphoria of a creative artist gaining notoriety and plagued with self-doubt. The actor makes subtle choices to show the madness settling in while his obsessive musical talent pulls him further from reality. Mr. Dano even resembles Wilson which helps, but he never resembles John Cusack, which doesn't. Granted, Cusack has the more difficult role showing a man over-medicated and in a zombie-like existence, dealing with his mental illness and emotional anguish, but he doesn't resemble Dano or Wilson in the least. There is no physical connection, no vocal similarities or mannerisms between the two actors. Cusack never finds the nuance of his character. Some of his scenes work very effectively, most do not, due to the actor's inability to fade into his role. Dano succeeds most effectively.
There is also a wonderful supporting performance by Elizabeth Banks as Wilson's love interest which helps the film immensely and an odd one-dimensional one delivered by the usually reliable Paul Giamatti as Wilson's duplicitous manager and caretaker, Dr. Eugene Landy. Perhaps his wig proved too clownish for the actor to focus on his craft. (I know I had trouble focusing.) Also doing credible work are Bill Camp as Wilson's abusive father and Jake Abel as Mike Love.
￼The film has enough interesting moments that shine in this bi-polar movie, particularly when Pohlad deftly handles the behind-the-scenes studio sessions of Good Vibrations and Pet Sounds. One wishes there were more attention and screen time paid for these and other musical interludes rather that the short musical snippets and hurried melodrama we are given, not to mention an ending that ties up all its loose ends with title cards explaining the fate of its characters (another example of sloppy writing). Special mention goes out to the sound mixing by Eugene Gearty which truly enhances the film, as does Atticus Ross' musical scoring.
￼God Only Knows, with Dano solely playing Wilson, further rewrites, and a more linear structured story, Love & Mercy could have really worked. And Wouldn't That Be Nice.
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