Watched this just this HP thing morning...
Cloaked in my beat-up TLOS hoodie, I found a seat in the last row in a corner...in cocoon mode...I had a sense it would be high voltage emotionally...the Pet Sounds (and other) music that wiped the tears of the world, was fully laid bare, for the foundation of raw unbridled abuse and tears from which much of it emanated.
Talk about making musical lemonade...
Just a heads up... to-do "homework" prep...grab the Pet Sounds sessions...You'll hear verbatim dialogue...I won't give away the themes...
The events and eras are flip-flopped and Dano/Cusack (Must Love Dogs) are amazing, as is Elizabeth Banks. I liked her forceful, but gracious confidence in the portrayal. I liked her steel reserve, in the face of verbal and "get in your face" Landy outbursts and abuse.
To those who think it will a "band" bash, you may be disappointed. Mike is treated very fairly and his perspective during that era, is both understandable in the face of both a style shift, understandable in terms of the reality of taking the then-newer music on the road, and a well-defined line of demarcation as it relates to a family business, pulling together with the blood bond. Marilyn is very well depicted. The scenes of the sessions are carefully recreated and will feel amazingly familiar for those who have been "lifers" - you will feel like a teenager again...what I really liked was the genesis scene from Good Vibrations between Brian and Mike, and how it captured that synergy.
Watching the abuse scenes was tough. The acting is that good. It makes you want to get in Murry's and Landy's faces. We can't "dig them up" and yell at them. However, Brian's "capacity to forgive" both evil doers, is what makes this movie shine, and his ability to see anything, positive, even the slightest benefit, despite the exploitive and predatory attributes of both, is nothing short of amazing. Brian's serenity in the face of these evils and his ability to translate that forgiveness and serenity, musically, enables him to triumph over these evils...
This little theater was at full capacity. Most left before the credits...don't make that mistake...the last few minutes are delightful, triumphant and redemptive. Only about 10 of us were left at the very (unbitter) end, and were chuckling over the real fools who left earlier...
To Love and Mercy...
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