Dano, Cusack hit the right notes in Love & Mercy
Brian Wilson's life is too big for a movie. The story of the brilliant and troubled co-founder of The Beach Boys barely lends itself to a coherent linear narrative, let alone a single film. Thankfully Love & Mercy doesn't attempt to cover it all, or even most of it.
Instead, director Bill Pohlad's film focuses in on two moments in Wilson's life: One of creation and destruction, as Wilson conceives of the group's transformative Pet Sounds album, and one of rebirth two decades later.
Even these stories are a bit ambitious for a two-hour film, but Pohlad's carefully woven vignettes manage to hit the necessary notes and explode expectations of what a biopic can and should be. It's a feat that will likely satisfy those who know Wilson's story all too well, while also whetting the appetite of those who don't.
