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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Love & Mercy -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Bill Pohlad's Love & Mercy, a dream-like bio-pic of brilliant singer-songwriter, Brian Wilson, is both a good, as well as a daring film.

Tracing the bio of any great person via film has been routinely done with one actor playing the role in youth, and another as an adult.

But this is different.

Two superb performances (John Cusack and Paul Dano), almost flitting back and forth in time, adding bits and pieces to the story, as it moves.

From a technical perspective, the film also takes a novel approach.  L & M was shot on film, and taken through a 2k DI, but it was photographed in both S16, as well as 35/3, covering different eras.

As a Blu-ray, it shines.

Having grown up with the music of the Beach Boys, I was unaware of what was occurring behind the scenes.

Love & Mercy serves it up, warts and all.

Image - 5

 

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5


Pass / Fail - Pass

 

Recommended

 

RAH

 

Robert Crawford

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Yes, I fine film and Blu-ray. I recommend it those interested in the back story about The Beach Boys.
 

TravisR

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Robert Crawford said:
I recommend it those interested in the back story about The Beach Boys.
I'm, at best, a casual Beach Boys fan so I had no real desire to know more about them but when I saw this movie, I found it be a really interesting & sad tale with a stellar cast. I'm hoping that enough people saw and remember it so it can get some Oscar nominations.
 

John Hermes

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Being a California boy (uh, old man now), I grew up with the BB and have been a big fan for over 50 years. Seeing them at their 50-year anniversary tour concert here in 2012 was quite a thrill for me. I knew the BB and Brian Wilson whole story quite well and thought the movie was very good. I have the Blu-ray and am waiting for a movie night with my friends to show it. The only thing in the movie I had a problem with is that John Cusack looks nothing like Brian, but I suppose that won't bother the average viewer. Anyway, I look forward to watching it again on Blu-ray. Thanks for the review and info.
 

haineshisway

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I liked it a lot, but kind of wish they hadn't gone the two actor route because I thought Paul Dano was a amazing and I would love to have seen him do the older as well as the younger Brian. And a little more of the crazy doctor's coming into his life would have been nice - even just a two-minute thing.
 

Dee Zee

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Great film, saw it upon first release and watched the blu-ray over the weekend. Nice. 4 deleted scenes included which has a few more enlightening tidbits about the BB saga during the two time periods covered in the film. I enjoyed the two actors, same role design. I thought both were excellent as well as Elizabeth Banks.
 

Mark-P

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Not knowing anything about the story, I kept saying,
I sure hope that mother-f***er is in jail now! Glad to find out that he lost his medical license and had a restraining order against him, but he got off too easy if you ask me!
 

Dee Zee

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The featurette on blu entitled A-Side B-Side Portraying Brian Wilson is a really nice behind the scenes look at the production and creative process. Plus another on costume and set design and the four deleted scenes.
 

JoeDoakes

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Yes, thought Paul Dano was particularly impressive. He really captured everything one would imagine about the young Brian Wilson. Paul Giamatti was also outstanding. For Giamatti, that almost seems like a disadvantage as he's so good in everything he does, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. His performance here has to be one of the creepiest ever on film.
 

bigshot

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When I looked at the title of this thread I read it Mertz and Lucy
 

Robert Crawford

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Sam Favate

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I finally saw this over the weekend (on the blu-ray I bought in September), and I loved it. Been a Beach Boys and Brian Wilson fan for a very long time, so the general story wasn't new to me. From everything I ever read, it always seemed Melinda helped save him. And as good as Cusack is, that half of the movie belongs to Elizabeth Banks. She's terrific in every scene she has. Paul Dano's great in the other half of the movie, as is Jack Abel as Mike Love. I'm glad they didn't make Love the bad guy (he's hotheaded and deserves some criticism, and is often at odds with Brian over business, but making him the villain would have been going too far). Giamatti made Eugene Landy as terrifying as he should have been. (Landy died in 2006, BTW; the movie doesn't mention that.) I loved the movie didn't have a tragic ending, as music biopics often do.


And after all of that, Brian Wilson is still out there touring and recording (really good) new music these days. I very much enjoyed his album this year, No Pier Pressure, and his Beach Boys reunion album, That's Why God Made The Radio, in 2012. (Brian says he wanted to make another Beach Boys record, but Mike Love didn't want to.)


I hope Love & Mercy gets remembered at awards time. It has a lot of great performances, and a bunch of nominations could encourage more people to see the movie.
 

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