Love and Mercy

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Love and Mercy!

Original image located here. Accessed 16th September 2022

Yep, another biopic. And another music one at that - dedicated to Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame.
I can't say I'm a fan of the Beach Boys. But I am well aware of the trials and tribulations that made up Brian's life - the kind that would make a fascinating film to say the least.

So what we have here is a movie that shows two aspect of Brian: The young and enthusiastic music genius, played by Paul Dano, and the middle-aged troubled soul played by John Cusack. It does make for an interesting approach and any music pic that strays away from the familiar formula is welcome in my book.
Of course all the story beats are here: Brian's genius at songwriting, his obsessive dedication to find sounds only he can hear, his eccentricities, his mental decline, and falling in with dodgy guy extraordinaire Eugene Landry. But as this story has been told many times before, it's really in how it's told. Aside from the afore-mentioned dual Brians, it's in the empathetic approach to it's subject and the dedication of the actors that really make this movie work.
And hey, the line 'You need to come back to yourself' does indeed have resonance