
Column 32: Brian Wilson’s Survival and Love & Mercy
Simply put, Love & Mercy, Bill Pohlad’s loving tribute to the genius and struggles of Brian Wilson, is an effecting film and a rousing victory. Featuring two different actors in the role and chronicling the former Beach Boys mastermind’s life at two crucial junctures in his life: – his creative apex and fall during the mid and late 60’s (Paul Dano) and his lowest point in the 80’s (John Cusack) in the thrall of scumbag and now discredited doctor Eugene Landy – Love & Mercy is also a film about tremendous heroism. Not just Wilson’s artistic heroism after he stopped touring with the Beach Boys to stay home to create masterpieces and battle mental health issues, but also the heroism of Brian’s future wife Melinda (Elizabeth Banks) who’d eventually save him from Landy, and get him back out into the world where he is now. In terms of cinematic virtue, Love[...]