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Strong performances (might be the best thing Dano's ever done and Cusack's best in a while) and a really solid script. Doesn't fall into any standard biopic traps. Watching Dano as Wilson create music and slowly lose touch with everything around him is fascinating. Bank's character is underdeveloped and Giamatti is a bit too mustache-twirly, but overall it's Wilson's journey and the two leads bring him to life in distinct and compelling ways.
Also, fuck off Mike Love.
Pretty much agree with this, specially about the sentiment about Mike Love. While both halves of the film are fascinating, I probably liked Cusack's half more. I would've liked a little more development of Brian and his father's relationship but that would've made the film like, an hour longer than it should've been; it's a minor complaint, anyway. So, yeah, good flick.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazlo
Yeah, Mike Love can certainly go fuck himself. That's for sure.
Thought the Beach Boys segments of the movie were by far the strongest. Can't say many (if any) musical biopics have bothered to delve into the creative process of the artist's music like this one did, the Pet Sounds sessions are a dream for anyone ever interested in how to translate those threads of inspiration in your head into a workable finished product and this is indeed Dano's best work as an actor. He channels Wilson's palpable frustration and up and down moods with grace and care, a fine performance leading the stronger half of the film.
As for the rest, Cusack is good though I think the script fails the elder Wilson a bit. I never really bought it the way it was presented and thought Giamatti was a bit over the top even if the good Dr Landy was a noted eccentric though the aesthetic of the later scenes is interesting in that it seems very harsh compared to the dreamy California landscapes of the scenes set in '66.
I didn't mind that the childhood abuse was left out of it for the most part. Though the movie somewhat hints at the surprising contrast between how Wilson rebelled against an abusive father but submitted to the methods of Landy, that's all it is - a hint. One can't find fault in that too much, the one major complaint against film biographies is that they try to do so much they become bland and unfocused. This one chooses a specific time period and sticks to it and I suppose it should be commended for that.
Not without it's warts but a pretty compelling portrait of one of the most talented men to come out of popular music in the modern era and how that talent was stifled and commandeered for the purposes of others - Landy, Mike Love, Wilson's own father.
This is fine. Dano does a good job, but the crosscut threads might dampen his development a bit, turning his deterioration into a highlight reel for the faithful. The film is rarely interesting visually, leaning heavily on handheld two-shots, occassionally locating a compelling image - a master shot in a restaurant that puts Brian in a foggy mirror makes an impression, as does a slow 360 in a studio displaying the separation between bandmates. The dialogue overexplains often, to the point that I kept waiting for Tim Meadows to pop in and announce, "Well, Brian Wilson, I get this is the end of another chapter in your life" (the genesis of "Good Vibrations" in particular). But in spite of those matters, the dual lead performances work, and Atticus Ross wisely avoids echoing Wilson's music, except as warped through strange overdubbed soundscapes. And Wilson's life is simply too damn interesting to not make for an often captivating watch.