What’s it about?

The incredible story of the rise, fall and rescue of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.

What did we think?

Elizabeth Best says: I didn’t know the story of Brian Wilson before seeing Love and Mercy. And if I hadn’t madly Googled post-film, I wouldn’t have believed it either; he has, quite simply, led an unimaginable life. Through the extraordinary acting talents of Paul Dano and John Cusack, we join Brian at two pivotal points in his career: the creation of the “pocket symphony” that was the Pet Sounds album, and the point at which his life was under the legal and medical spell of psychiatrist Dr Eugene Landy. That’s the brilliance of Love and Mercy: most biopics tell the story, this one puts you smack bang in the head of a tortured musical genius. God only knows what happened to Brian, but if this movie is anything to go by, truth really is stranger than fiction.