Love And Mercy By Bill Pohlad

(1) Love and Mercy the 2014 film directed by Bill Pohlad follows the life of the beloved Beach Boy Brian Wilson. (2,5) A shot in the film that captures the essence of the motion picture is pool shot where Brian has his eyes wide open bubbled streaming out of his nose as if he is drowning, which could ironically foreshadow his brother’s drowning not depicted, but mentioned in the movie. This is the essence of the film because Brian his entire life was drowning under the pressure of his stardom and especially the pressure of his musical gift. The heavy use of the blue; the blue water, the blue pool walls, Brian’s blue swim bottoms, sets the scene up with an eerie calm. There are many times where Brian appears to almost break the surface, but instead drives back down twisting, turn, floating in a watery …show more content…
When he finally breaks through the surface he grabs for the floating raft as if to keep himself up and safe. This compares to later on in his life where Malinda is his raft in his deadly pool of Landry. (3) One line of dialogue that contains the essence of the film is during Malinda and Brian’s date to the Moody Blues concert when she tells Brian she like the song and asks him if he likes it as well. Landry in turn asks Malinda about what she said to Brian. This moment in the movie shows that Malinda has a love of music, making scenes between her and Brian more special, like when he composes her a song. This more importantly demonstrates the control Landry strives to have over Brian. One whisper could not pass without his ears sensing it. This scene is one of the first where we see Landry’s sick need for control that has misshapen Brian’s life to the lonely, pitiful state it has become. Paradoxically his diagnosis of Brian as paranoid is more appropriate for himself. (4) Finally one beautifully done cut between scenes is when Brian is walking around looking for Malinda. He crosses the street just as Malinda drives towards his very cross walk in a