Love and Mercy 2014

     The Beach Boys reached their professional peak in the 1960’s.  Brian Wilson paid a high mental and physical price for his innovative talent.  His father was his manager at one time.  He was abusive and Brian lost most of his hearing in one ear due to physical blows.  He felt he could never manage to please him.  Brian began to suffer more and more from mental illness until he was unable to function.  He was under the care of Dr. Landy in the 1980’s and he was taking advantage of Brian.  Melinda Ledbetter meets Brian when he comes into a Cadillac dealership to buy a car.  She falls in love with him and the attraction is mutual.  She observes the dominance of Dr. Landy and she gathers evidence to bring charges against the doctor.

     I didn’t know any of this history of Brian Wilson before watching this movie.  I thought it was very interesting with a lot of information about Brian and his band mates.  Many musicians become sidelined with drugs/alcohol and many aren’t able to turn themselves around mentally or physically.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

121 min, Bio directed by Bill Pohlad with John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, Jake Abel, Kenny Wormald, Brett Davern, Graham Rogers, Erin Drake, Joanna Going, Bill Camp, Nick Gehlfuss.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 91% critic 85% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 5133 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in various locations of Torrance, Hollywood, Santa Clarita and Los Angeles, California.  The producer of this film, Bill Pohlad also worked on Brokeback Mountain and 12 Years a Slave.  Some of the actual events in Brian’s life were so unbelievable that the film team considered toning down or falsifying events.  Murry Wilson, Brian’s father did sell off the band’s publishing company but not in 1967, it was 1969.