A biopic of Brian Wilson had been mooted ever since the late 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy was released, with its bold time-hopping structure that allowed both Paul Dano and John Cusack to play the Beach Boys’ chief songwriter. The former played Wilson as he recorded Pet Sounds and his legendary unrealised Smile project, the latter played him as he struggled to escape the control of his abusive quack therapist Eugene Landy. It sounds a bit heavy – and it is – but the soundtrack is full of the most beautiful music ever made.
On this week’s episode of Pop Screen, Graham is joined by fellow Beach Boys fan Ewan to discuss the film and its clutch of impressive performances, including Bill Camp, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti as the monstrous Landy. We also discuss the strange circumstances which led to Pet Sounds becoming the definitive Beach Boys album despite having almost no band members play instruments on it, what the best Beach Boys song is, and why Graham’s answer to that question is the correct one.
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