Love and Mercy (2015), directed by Bill Pohlad

In quite a departure from the usual biopic, Love and Mercy snaps back and forth in time, quite a risk given that Brian Wilson is played by two very different actors in Paul Dano and Jon Cusack. The technique is annoying at first, but ends up working quite well, comparing and contrasting the tortured musical genius pre and post breakdown. The director’s style is elliptical, sometimes to the detriment of the story. It is good not to be spoon-fed and the audience gets a clear enough picture of Wilson’s horrible childhood without needing to see every awful detail. However his first marriage could have been given a little more attention, with his wife barely named let alone fleshed out as a character. Likewise his relationship with his brothers and fellow Beach Boys; we only know which one is cousin Mike Love because of the fights. Paul Dano is convincingly weird as the younger Brian, showing how his anxiety and developing mental health issues were compounded by drug abuse and a sense of alienation. Jon Cusack is engagingly vague as older Brian, who has been rescued from his complete breakdown by a manipulative psychotherapist, in a frypan to fire situation. In a scenery-chewing performance, Paul Giamatti has the thankless role of the dastardly doctor and Elizabeth Banks is warm, sweet and credible as the woman who rescues Wilson from his clutches. The film benefits greatly from using the actual Beach Boys music on the soundtrack and a nice cameo from the man himself on the closing credits perfectly punctuates it.