Love & Mercy, a complex, engaging film about Brian Wilson

Love & Mercy is the story from Brian Wilson’s perspective about his life-specifically the time in the mid 60’s. They were ruling the pop charts with surf songs, but Wilson wanted and needed to do more creatively. The film also takes place in the mid 80’s, when Wilson was somewhat of a broken soul who hears voices and is under the strict control of a very domineering doctor Landry.

As a viewer I was initially skeptical of the ongoing time jump that the film uses as a device.  Young Brian Wilson is played by Paul Dano, while the older Brian Wilson is done by Jon Cusak. For the first half of the film I enjoyed the time period in the 60’s much more. The Beach Boys were on a Japanese tour and Wilson was in California recording Pet Sounds.

During that time he was ultra creative, distant, shy and at times a schizophrenic boy-man who just wanted to make music. Even then Wilson was hearing noises or voices in his head. In the late 60’s he started taking more drugs and that drastically increased his withdrawal from pop music.

The fan in me immediately drew parallels to Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys.  In documentaries for The Dark Side of the Moon David Gilmour has said that Floyd was trying to get away from the ‘drug sound’. That LP was seven years after the release of Pet Sounds. In Love & Mercy the Mike Love character returns from the Japanese tour and confronts Wilson about the supposed ‘druggie’ vibe that the songs have. Compounded on that is are the Syd Barret similarities between him and Brian Wilson.

Interwoven in this period are the mid 80’s Wilson who is over medicated and being watched all the time by Dr. Landry. Dr. Landy is played by Paul Giamatti who balances caring charm, mystery with menace and rage with brilliance. He’s lovable at times, but hated with equal measure just a couple of minutes later.

While car shopping Wilson meets Melinda Ledbetter, who becomes his friend, girlfriend and possible savior. As their relationship grows she questions more about Wilson’s sickness and the confrontation between her and Landry materializes.

The downward spiral of Brian Wilson in the 60’s is balanced against the start of his upward trend of his health in the mid 80’s. It’s a complex rope of a film that makes sense when viewed in its entirety. You don’t have to be a fan of the Beach Boys to enjoy Love & Mercy. We are fans of the music, but it’s because of that fact that I was prepared not to like the film.

It’s a well done film that doesn’t whitewash the problems of the group, Wilson’s addiction or the issues surrounding schizophrenia. All of that may not initially sound like the ingredients for a great movie, but in this case it adds up to something worth seeing.