Love and Mercy Bill Pohlad (USA 2014) John Cussack; Elizabeth Banks Viewed: Tyneside Cinema 11 July 2015; ticket £8.50
An alternative Life of Brian
The spectacle of Hollywood trying to simulate mental illness is as degrading unedifying and unconvincing as Hollywood’s simulation of sex. It all looks hammed up.
Everyone is an object†. We watch the objects move around and go through their routines, sex madness, both have their film routine. In Love and Mercy three of them pretend to be Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Two (John Cussack and Paul Dano) of them have to pretend to be ill, their performances aided and abetted by the designed sound sound mix of ‘Voices off’ and ‘internalised chaos affects’ that tries to ‘dope’ out what our Brian might be hearing.
With its formulaic gestural TV acting; a scenario with a structure that flip flops promiscuously between different times without the honesty to provide a temporal context, this is a typical biopic. One strictly for the worshippers of the life of Brian and the Boys.
Love and Mercy is pitch for Brian’s somewhat shaky claim on genius and thereby to secure both his artistic legacy and also importantly, the royalty incomes from the songs that the rights owners hope will roll in for many a year. Let the Good Times Roll…. adrin neatrour adrinuk@yahoo.co.uk
