“Love & Mercy”: Inside Brian Wilson

Listening to the early Beach Boys, no one would realize the anguish and the genius that made up Brian Wilson. His songs about surfing, the beach and hot rods played into the stereotype of young Southern Californians in the early- to mid-1960s. The young Brian (Paul Dano) wrote about this life, but did not live it. He was abused by his father (Bill Camp), heard sounds in his head, and was eventually too anxious to tour with the band. While the group took off for Japan, the fragile Brian stayed back and promised to come up with a great new repertoire.

 Brian was tremendously impressed with The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” and responded with compositions that made up another classic rock album, “Pet Sounds,” which, in turn, inspired The Beatles. The rest of the Beach Boys were puzzled by Brian’s experimental new album; cousin and band member Mike Love was openly hostile. He was unimpressed by the fact that the critics loved it and, as did fans in England. Sales were relatively low in America and Love did not want to disrupt the formula. Brian, however, did not want to continue with the same sun and fun themes.

 “Love & Mercy” switches back and forth between the young Brian and the older man (John Cusack), who added drugs to his toxic psychic issues. At this point, he was on the verge of complete mental collapse and controlled by a lunatic psychologist, Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). He meets Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), a Cadillac dealer and an exceptionally understanding woman who falls in love with Brian and defeats Landy through legal means.

 Whether encountering the humiliations of his father, the lack of support by his band, and the regimen imposed by his psychologist, Brian is a passive character without the resolve to push back. He is liberated only by Ledbetter, the woman who became his wife. Brian is fulfilled and alive only in the studio, where he can collaborate with musicians and create the sounds he hears within. As “Love & Mercy” shifts seamlessly back and forth between the young and older Brian, it also movingly portrays both his torments and the innovations that made him one of rock’s creative geniuses.