Love & Mercy (2015)
Directed by Bill Pohlad
In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, under the sway of a controlling therapist, he finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.
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She combines the brass of Erin Brockovich with the supportive sensitivity of (the late) Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind.
Here he’s played by Paul Dano, the sad-sack shape shifter of films like “Little Miss Sunshine” and “There Will be Blood.”
I've been hot and cold on Dano's performances for years; too often in earlier films, his penchant for slowing a scene's rhythm to suit his own needs has driven me a little nuts, even in a great film such as "There Will Be Blood."
It's essentially two movies in one, with Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) perfectly capturing the frenetic musical perfectionism of the young Wilson and John Cusack tackling the tormented, overly medicated man from the 1980s.
Dano’s demeanor in movies like “There Will Be Blood” lies on the brink of a cringe, but there is nothing wimpish in his fine depiction of Wilson, and his grin, as he gives a mock salute and falls into a pool, would not disgrace “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Dano is a young master of awkward body language and wobbly line readings — it’s what made him so great as the nasty pastor in There Will Be Blood (2007) but he never gets past the level of impersonation here.
But the astounding performance belongs to Dano, whose exuberance and self-doubt as a brilliant musician coming unstuck exceeds the eccentric or damaged souls he's previously played in the likes of There Will Be Blood and Prisoners.
Pohlad, who has helped produce such prominent indie films as “12 Years a Slave,” “The Tree of Life” and “Into the Wild,” was clearly paying attention along the way, because based on this project he is suddenly a director to be reckoned with.
Pohlad, a first-time feature director with an impressive list of producing credits (“12 Years a Slave,” “Into the Wild,” “Brokeback Mountain”) and screenwriters Oren Moverman and Michael A. Lerner have come up with a brilliant way of presenting Wilson’s story.
Pohlad, a second-time director whose production credits include "Wild," "12 Years a Slave" and "Into the Wild," is greatly aided by his collaborators.
Pohlad, a veteran producer whose films include "12 Years a Slave" and "Into the Wild," captures the period details, both the '60s and the '80s, meticulously.
But Pohlad -- who produced interesting features like Into the Wild, A Prairie Home Companion and The Tree of Life -- uses sound in intriguing ways to convey the madness in Wilson’s head.
In taking a page from his subject’s life and music, Pohlad (best known for producing credits like 12 Years a Slave and Into the Wild) largely rejects sentimentality in chronicling a reluctant pop star who wants to craft something more than shiny, happy hooks (in one scene, Wilson argues the Beach Boys’ true “surfer” cred with his bandmates, knowing better).
Brian Wilson (Paul Dano, "Prisoners"), the cofounder singer/songwriter of The Beach Boys, is a musical genius, his production of Pet Sounds considered one of the greatest pop albums of all times.
He goes for broke, relishing playing deeply flawed, almost loathsome characters in such challenging films as "Prisoners, "12 Years a Slave" (how many name Hollywood actors would play THAT role), and "Looper."
But the astounding performance belongs to Dano, whose exuberance and self-doubt as a brilliant musician coming unstuck exceeds the eccentric or damaged souls he's previously played in the likes of There Will Be Blood and Prisoners.