By Melissa Antoinette Garza
It doesn’t get better than the Beach Boys and the album Pet Sounds. Ever since I can remember, a Missy would groove to those tunes. It’s more than music. Any time I relax, meditate and listen, it’s an experience. The songs strike chords in every cell of my body. I get chills inside and my heart fills with joy and optimism. It’s a spiritual sensation more powerful than any church I’ve ever been in. I’ll forever be grateful to the genius of Brian Wilson for bringing a much needed solace to me in the times I’ve needed it the most and a love for life when I’ve thought I lost it.
Somehow LOVE & MERCY (2015) snuck under my radar. It’s a biographical account of Wilson’s life from the 60s though the 80s with Paul Dano portraying a young Brian and John Cusack taking on the role as the legend in the 1980s.
He, who is most special, told me about this flick and I immediately tracked it down. It’s a must-see for any Beach Boys fan, so in other words – anyone with great taste is going to love it. If you don’t, get better taste and try again.
The movie bounces back-and-forth between young Brian and older, giving insight into Wilson’s life. We see his abusive, shithead father Murry (Bill Camp) act cold and callous. Murry was the Beach Boys first manager, but Brian fired him. After letting him go, Murry goes behind Wilson’s back and sells the Beach Boys music for $750K. That was far from the first disgusting thing he did. When Brian was a child, Murry beat him so badly that he lost nearly all of his hearing in one of his ears. As the physical violence stopped, Murry began attacking his son’s talent, berating him. He’s a bitter, violent douche that is pissed off that he got canned. Good on Brian for getting rid of his dad, but sadly he could never get him out of his mind.
Wilson is such a soft and caring guy. Years after when discussing the insane level of discipline, he seems to downplay what he endured. He even remarks to his love interest and eventual wife Melinda (Elizabeth Banks) that he is thankful to his pops as the harshness made him write better songs. I love Brian Wilson so much. I just do. The man can do no wrong in my eyes. I just want to hug him and not let him go.
Brian is not as generous to himself. He takes responsibility for being a bad father to his daughters and horrible husband to his first wife. This is mostly due to drug abuse, mental illness and a harsh schedule on the road. The man had been through so much and struggled his entire life, yet he still was the first to hold himself accountable for any shortcomings. He’s a man who could easily and justifiably be conceited, yet he is without ego. He is truly just everything great about this world wrapped up into one dude who thinks he’s more screwed up than he is. It’s the world that’s insane. Brian just reacts to it with such emotion and love. I adore that man and always fucking will.
When Melinda comes into Brian’s life in the 1980s, Brian is on a ton of meds and has caretakers. Brian’s doctor and legal guardian, Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) is a controlling fucking dickhead that needs a beat-down. He has systematically removed Brian from all contact with his family. He has Brian hopped up on pills and uses mental mind-fucks to weasel his way into every aspect of Wilson’s life. He forces an incoherent, drugged-out Brian to make music and screams in his face when he doesn’t. He’s obviously looking for a huge payout and doesn’t give a shit about Brian!
Gene goes on dates with Melinda and Wilson. He sits beside her and insists that she repeat everything she says so that he can hear. At one point, he goes banana-pants crazy when Melinda gives Brian her burger. Landy insisted he wait and be patient, but Melinda overrules him and slides her food to Brian. When Bitch Landy sees, he gets in Wilson’s face and screams. I can’t help but think that level of bullshit must’ve sent Brian into PTSD moments where he recalled the abuse he endured at his father’s hands. I hate heartless and soulless peeps and Landy is as heartless and soulless as they come.
After the barbecue brawl, Landy calls Melinda and tries to act like he’s a good guy who is willing to give her full access to Wilson as long as she plays ball. He wants to know every move Brian makes and everything he does. Melinda is tough and she’s a smart cookie and loves Brian. She doesn’t trust Eugene as far as she can throw him, and she’s right! Unlike Doctor Dick, she’s not in it for the money or prestige. She just loves her man and refuses to let Landy take advantage.
When Gene sees that she won’t play by his rules, he informs her that Brian won’t be seeing her anymore. Melinda, not a gal to be pushed around, reaches out to Wilson’s family and explains the depths of Landy’s depravity and indifference. If not for Melinda, Brian would have probably died under that fuckwit’s supervision. Nothing pleases me more than knowing, Brian outlived that fraud quack.
The film bounces back to the 60s and the creation of Pet Sounds, where we see Brian begin to hear voices. Sadly, he had some bad trips and with a probable predisposition for mental illness developed schizoaffective disorder and mild manic depression. The man is such a genius that it didn’t hinder his abilities.
He kept creating the iconic tunes despite protests from Mike Love (Jake Abel) who wanted to keep doing surfer songs. He was a pussy that wanted easy lyrics and was blind to Brian’s brilliance. Wilson was beyond Love in every way and onto a more surreal and divine musical experience. Wilson stopped touring with the band and focused on the record, much to the chagrin of Mike. Brian is 100% artist whereas Love is just after whatever sells. I’m not saying Mike was ALWAYS an asshole to Brian, but facts are facts, and if we’re being honest, Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. Fight me, bro.
In the end, we see the nurturing and protective nature of Melinda come full force. She is willing to walk away from Brian to show that she wants nothing from him and yet she doesn’t walk away from the responsibility of caring for him. She makes certain Eugene doesn’t bleed him dry and fights that bastard with everything she’s got. I love Melinda. She’s fabulous.
LOVE & MERCY is a perfect film. Brian Wilson said it was extremely accurate in its portrayal and you can feel it when watching. It’s artistic and flows almost like Pet Sounds in the way it tells the story. The music helps with the flow, but it’s more than that. The performances hit hard. I’m not much of an Elizabeth Banks fan at all. She often reminds me of a more modern Jennifer McCarthy, but here she nails it. She brought her A-game and really sold the compassion and kindness of Melinda.
Contrastingly, Paul Giamatti excelled at displaying the magnitude of how awful that disgusting prick Landy was. God, I hate Giamatti in this and I fucking love him in everything. Even in PRIVATE PARTS (1997), I was like “I love that dude!” In this though, there was no coming back. There wasn’t a second where I was thinking, “Wow, Giamatti is doing great” and that actually tells you how splendid he is. I was so absorbed in the movie that it didn’t even occur to me that I was watching one of my favorite actors on screen. I just hated him. Now that it’s over, I love Giamatti again, but damn do I fucking loathe Landy. I hope he doesn’t rest in peace. Fuck that guy.
Now, John Cusack should have gotten a fucking Oscar for this. He shined magnificently. Cusack is a fairly versatile actor, but here he goes so far out of the realm of anything he’s done. He had the difficult task of showing a man both suffering from a major mental illness while also being systematically hopped up on pills. He needed to make certain the viewers understood where the illness began, where it ended, what it impacted and what it didn’t. He also had to show how the pills were changing his personality and how the mental illness wasn’t who Brian was. It was an illness he battled. It would have been so easy to fall into an insulting indictment of people suffering from similar conditions, but instead Cusack stayed focus on the heart and sweet disposition of Brian. Yeah – he heard voices, but so fucking what. He’s loving and kind and creatively one of the most brilliant men who ever lived. Cusack particularly made sure the film never lost sight of that. The Schizoaffective disorder was shown with the perfect amount of weight. It caused him insecurity and made him distraught. It even may have added to how willing Wilson was to allow Landy’s mistreatment, but LOVE & MERCY also showed it was far deeper than that. It was both Wilson’s tender-heartedness and the fear of being incapacitated that made him so forgiving of the money-hungry quack.
Paul Dano also assisted in delivering the same message. There isn’t one thing that put Brian into the position of being under Landy’s thumb for so long. There were so many different life events that caused him to be in that abusive situation and they dated back very far. Whether looking at the torture he endured at the hands of his father, the beginning stages of his illness, the lack of support he received for his talent or his own unjustified insecurities, there are plenty of components that played a part. It is a testimony to Wilson’s strength that he survived and is still the goddamn rock star that he is.
I said it before, I’ll say it again. Watch this fucking movie. I took it out of the library and then after that noticed it was on HULU. I always forget HULU has movies on it. It does though. I have to start using it more.
Now, it’s time for a Missy to smoke some weed and listen to Pet Sounds. Let it be known that I am eternally grateful to Brian Wilson for making that happen.
Scared Stiff Rating: 10/10
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