Beautiful Boy
Ten Second Review: An interesting film that really puts you in touch with a parent’s fear and anguish and the cycle that addiction can present. While a great film, it does beg the question about the less fortunate members of society who don’t have the support system or money present here and if this is the story that needs telling right now.
I went into Beautiful Boy a little blind. I saw the trailer a few months back but hadn’t thought about it much since. I love Steve Carell and his recent films showing his wide range of acting ability have been such a joy to watch, even if you don’t love the rest of the film. Beautiful Boy shares in this characteristic.
Telling the story of a family dealing with their son’s addiction issues, Beautiful Boy centres on the father son relationship between David Sheff (Steve Carell) and Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet). Jumping back and fourth through their lives (in a generally forward motion) the film explores their closeness and David’s fear for his son’s well being. Tracing the process of getting clean and relapsing, the film is an interesting look at this specific case of recovery and the effects it can have on the individual and the people around them.
Straight out of the gate I want to say that both Carell and Chalamet are incredible and give gripping performances that really put you in the mind and world of their characters. The film is shot beautifully and while the pace is a little slow it is a great piece of directing that really surrounds you and brings you in. The music and sound design also needs praise. There are moments where the music switches tone and feels more like a horror movie which feels a little odd until you realise those scenes basically are from a horror movie. The way the music emphasises the pain of the characters and highlights their moments of pure fear really gives credence to the attention to detail that went into making the film.
Accepting that the acting is great and the film is well made, I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the movie. It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for those suffering with addiction or those struggling with recovery, I think that films discussing this topic are important and a necessary thing to bring to the attention of the wider public. It is also not that I don’t value Nic’s story as his experience is a valid one and deserves recognition. I think my problem comes from the privilege at play in this film. There are really sad stories of people suffering with addiction that have no support systems and don’t have the resources to enter themselves into a rehab clinic or go to their parents beautiful secluded house. This is not to say that there aren’t middle class white guys who struggle with addiction but that this film doesn’t take the time to recognise that about itself. This film inevitably comes across as a artsy white guy from a comfortable background and a loving family falling prey to the lure of drugs and being unable to escape even with the emotional and monetary support of his family. It has a very “California cool” celebrity vibe that really undercuts the important messages the film carries. There is an obvious danger here that the cool, young and sexy Chalamet, while a brilliant actor, feeds into a Romanticism of addiction culture that is extremely dangerous to certain viewers. He might look spaced out at certain points but he never looks or feels like he has sincerely fallen on hard times.
This leads on to the feeling that there was a level of sanitisation that caps the film’s emotional limit. It is possible that a movie less geared to a mainstream audience could have better explored the darkness that is involved in addiction rather leaving it just off camera. The pushing of Nic as this manic-pixie-dream-boy-esque figure who is a genius and lovely kid and all sorts of other great things, makes the drugs element seem less like an awful thing and more like a character flaw he is trying to work out. After giving it some thought, I’m not sure how they could have fixed this. Maybe casting an actor who isn’t so well known, maybe physically changing his appearance more to clearly show the effects addiction can have or maybe just adapting the base story as opposed to retelling it so as to tell the story of a less privileged individual but using the experiences of people who have actually gone through this pain.
The film is well made, I really can’t say that enough, and the acting is superb, but I’m not sure it’s the story that needs telling right now. It says important things and as a way of depicting the cycle of addiction and the path of recovery it does very well (at least to begin the conversation). I might be alone, but I think there will be a disconnect for many people with these characters because of the separation they could feel between Nic’s situation and the many who don’t have the support he receives in the film.
