Love and Mercy

[Tiam]

We only have one theater, a multi plex in town. It usually only shows mainstream, high revenue movies. Indies are rare. But Love and Mercy came. I liked it so much, I went and saw it again.

About musical Genius Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. The two "Brians" are Paul Dano and John Cusack. and they are both wonderful. I really felt as if I was going mad and losing my mind and descending into mental illness right along with Brian Wilson, it was so well conveyed. I think much more so than A Beautiful Mind. Well done. And the treatment of the music as a fabric of the narrative is amazing too.

[Tiam]

No one else has seen it? I was hoping for a discussion? :(

[Float On]

sorry. Haven't seen it. If it pops up on netflix instant I'll give it a watch.

[Weston]

No one else has seen it? I was hoping for a discussion? :(

I liked it but was far from knocked out by it. Thought Paul Dano was outstanding but found Cusack (an actor I have liked in several other films) to be completely underwhelming and far from believable. Thought the whole film was just way too black and white in it's characters. The role of the wife was way too angelic to be believed and Paul Giamatti's character was such a cartoonish one dimensional villian he should have spent the entire film twirling a Snidely Whiplash mustache.

[rodeosweetheart]

We saw it yesterday, Tiam and loved it. I agree with you about the handling of the mental illness, so frightening. I thought Cusack did a great job with the voice and the mannerisms, but Dano looked like Wilson, while Cusack was a stretch. I thought the narrative was very effective, with the jumps in time.
Wilson lived in St. Charles for a while, where we lived, so I've always felt connected with him. My son's driver's ed teacher had that as one of their destinations, his house. It was a mcmansion in a culdesac, which I thought was so odd.. .

[freshstart]

I'll watch that when it comes out in DVD, I love John Cusack and was always interested in what happened to Brian Wilson

[Tiam]

I liked it but was far from knocked out by it. Thought Paul Dano was outstanding but found Cusack (an actor I have liked in several other films) to be completely underwhelming and far from believable. Thought the whole film was just way too black and white in it's characters. The role of the wife was way too angelic to be believed and Paul Giamatti's character was such a cartoonish one dimensional villian he should have spent the entire film twirling a Snidely Whiplash mustache.

I can see what you mean. I read that they were pretty aware that Cusak in particular didn't resemble Wilson, but it wasn't really the main consideration. I think of Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn...she did not look a thing like Loretta Lynn...

One thing I liked was that Dano's and Cusak's mannerisms often were very similar, but they didn't spend time working together. I think that attests to the actors studying Wilson himself and it shows in their acting that they are similar in affect.