Love & Mercy

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: June 5, 2015

8.1	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 144 Ratings

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GreatMartinJun 12, 2015

I had a hard time getting into, letting alone understanding, “Love and Mercy” and more than once during the first hour I wanted to bolt the theatre but I stayed and finally figured it all out!

While the bulk of the film is carried by JohnI had a hard time getting into, letting alone understanding, “Love and Mercy” and more than once during the first hour I wanted to bolt the theatre but I stayed and finally figured it all out!

While the bulk of the film is carried by John Cusack and Paul Dano, both as Brian Wilson, it is the performance by Elizabeth Banks that holds it all together. Dano is Brian during the late 60s and we see how he wrote the music that would become a thread in so many lives while Cusack plays Brian in the 1980s who came under the control of a manipulative shyster, Dr. Eugene Landy, played by Paul Giamatti, who just oozes evil, who was given all legal control of the musician’s life, though how is not really explained. Banks is Melinda Ledbetter who meets the latter Brian and sees the man he really is, who helps him get away from Landy and would eventually marry him.

This is not a play by the numbers Hollywood biography though there are many elements from the abused children angle to the real possibility of a man being easily dominated by another father figure. Yes there are the drugs, the high living, the ‘mad’ genius aspect but this is more of getting into the head of a songwriter and how and where the music comes from and into his descent into an unexplainable diagnosis as a paranoid schizophrenia with hearing voices and LSD which doesn’t help him.

There is no resemblance between Dano and Cusack nor do they ever move or talk the same but both are believable as being the same man. Many of Wilson’s hit songs are heard but not as in a concert but how they sprang from the man’s mind. One example is how much the difference of the sound between a father slapping his son so hard that the latter loses most of his hearing in that ear and a spanking can bring different tones to a song. Another prime example of what made Wilson such a perfect musician was his search for the exact sound of the cellists in “Good Vibrations”.

There is not a false movement by any of the cast and the direction by Bill Pohlad, with the screenplay by Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner, take this far away from ‘just another musical Hollywood biography‘. The sound editing by Atticus Ross and the sound mixing by Edward Tise are works of perfection.

This is not an easy film to watch, get into and/or understand but it is worth the 2 hours of your life to watch it--and how many movies can you say that about?… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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LowbrowCinemaJul 3, 2015

Paul Dano totally captures Brian Wilson. John Cusack captures a very disturbed but sweet man. Ostensibly they are both playing Wilson, though you'd never really know it. We learn a bit of the truth about Wilson but LOVE AND MERCY is too fullPaul Dano totally captures Brian Wilson. John Cusack captures a very disturbed but sweet man. Ostensibly they are both playing Wilson, though you'd never really know it. We learn a bit of the truth about Wilson but LOVE AND MERCY is too full of music and entertainment industry cliches to have any impact. And then the fantastical sequences are too sloppy to work in any way. But there is one major standout--Elizabeth Banks who is simply translucent while being totally grounded. Really cool.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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jake_gibbsJun 11, 2016

Disappointing. Acting was very good, especially Paul Giamatti, but film often dragged for long stretches of time and the depressing elements trumped the interesting elements.

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RalfbergsMar 1, 2017

I guess I thought this movie will be something a bit better, but it really wasn't for me. I mean I would have preferred it as a documentary then as the only good thing it does it makes you feel for Brian and how he had all his problems etc.I guess I thought this movie will be something a bit better, but it really wasn't for me. I mean I would have preferred it as a documentary then as the only good thing it does it makes you feel for Brian and how he had all his problems etc. But other than that I think it's nothing that impressive. Great acting though… Expand

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JLuis_001Sep 7, 2017

A biopic not so different from the usual but more perceptive and pleasant, it is worth to understand that perhaps audiences will not have no idea who is Brian Wilson, even if they sound the name of the Beach Boys, but if you do not know thisA biopic not so different from the usual but more perceptive and pleasant, it is worth to understand that perhaps audiences will not have no idea who is Brian Wilson, even if they sound the name of the Beach Boys, but if you do not know this movie Is a good approach.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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