Movie with Abe: Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy
Directed by Felix Van Groeningen
Released October 12, 2018

There is a special bond that can exist between a father and son which begins at birth and continues as both grow older. Naturally, the nature of that relationship changes over time, as a son transforms from a child into a teenager into a young adult, and a father might face a decline in health and physical ability as the years pass. In some cases, a son emulates his father – or another parent – and in others, he rebels specifically to challenge authority. That behavior may not even be intentional, since personality and environmental factors can contribute to the development of issues that may be too difficult for even a father to be able to resolve.

David Sheff (Steve Carell) is a journalist who goes to see a doctor not for a story he is a writing but one that he is living, as his son Nic (Timothée Chalamet) is suffering from crippling addiction to a number of drugs. David’s biggest struggle is reconciling the young boy (Jack Dylan Grazer) he raised and had such a close relationship with and the defiant teenager he sees who puts on a happy face but spends so much of his time drowning in ways to make himself feel good using a variety of drugs. As multiple rehab treatments fail, David wonders how much more he can take to try to save his son.

If nothing else, this is an intimate portrait of two people who feel completely isolated by their circumstances. Nic is a child of divorce, and though both of his parents have afforded him a great life, he has his own demons that have caused him to forego his potential for great accomplishments. David becomes so obsessed with finding a way to connect with and help his son that he can’t focus on anything, including his wife and two other children, convinced that he can fix the situation.

Carell has ventured into drama recently after making a name for himself in comedy, and while he’s certainly believable in this role, it’s not his most dynamic or authentic performance. Chalamet, fresh off an Oscar-nominated breakthrough in “Call Me By Your Name,” manages to convey the real pain of addiction in his turn, which serves as a decent follow-up for him and a positive step in his career, and Grazer, who starred in “Me, Myself, and I,” is a dead ringer for him and a very competent pick to play his younger self. While this true story is indeed powerful and heart-wrenching, this adaptation doesn’t feel quite as vibrant and engaging as it should, presenting an impossible situation in an unremarkable, straightforward manner.

B-

Movie with Abe: Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy
Directed by Shawn Ku
Released June 3, 2011

Dealing with death is never an easy thing, and when the circumstances are complicated, it can be even more difficult. Kate (Maria Bello) and Bill (Michael Sheen), a couple already on the verge of divorce, are confronted with a particularly awful scenario when they hear that there has been a school shooting that claimed numerous lives at their son’s college. In one wrenching scene early in the film, Kate and Bill are informed that their son is dead, but learn an even more horrible truth: that he was the gunman.

A film like “Beautiful Boy” is evidently extremely complex. There needs to be a delicate balance struck to ensure that it is not too depressing and also not inappropriately melodramatic or insensitive. There needs to be a sense of hope present without artificially infusing it into a clearly tragic and devastating story. Framing it with a title like “Beautiful Boy” indicates the complicated nature of the feelings expressed and buried by Kate and Bill as they struggle to accept this horrific turn of events.

The gravity and emotional weight of the story is something that “Beautiful Boy” accomplishes well. At no point does the story feel contrived or forced. Especially in the way that they are unable to articulate their emotions, their pain feels real, and it’s difficult to watch them suffer with the loss they’ve experienced and the dread of knowing that they are the ones being blamed for the loss of many other lives.

At the core of “Beautiful Boy” are the two actors who portray the members of a strained couple who lives are completely torn apart by their son’s killing spree. Sheen dons an American accent and a stiff exterior to play Bill, Kate’s emotionally distant husband who has fully lost interest in maintaining their marriage. Maria Bello, no stranger to playing broken wives, as she has done before in films like “A History of Violence,” channels fury and resentment as Kate, a distraught mother unwilling to accept what the son she raised has done. The film, like many of this genre, has its high points and definitely peaks at one or two moments, remaining relatively slow the rest of the time. It’s not nearly as effective as something like “21 Grams” or “Rabbit Hole,” but it’s still a powerful portrait of what the inexplicable and unfathomable can do to two people and how it can bring them back together.

B

Tuesday’s Top Trailer: Beautiful Boy

Welcome to a weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Tuesday's Top Trailer. One of my favorite parts about going to see movies is the series of trailers that airs beforehand and, more often than not, the trailer is far better than the actual film. Each week, I'll be sharing a trailer I've recently seen. Please chime in with comments on what you think of the trailer and how you think the movie is going to be.

Beautiful Boy – Opening May 20, 2011



In stark contrast to the past three weeks of this feature, where I’ve looked at light-hearted comedies, we have an extremely serious, sensitive drama. The tone of the trailer reminds me of both 2007’s “Grace is Gone” and this past year’s “Rabbit Hole.” This is a very touchy subject matter, and the trailer perfectly conveys that as the parents panic when they see the news and are then told “there’s more” by the officer coming to inform them of their son’s death. Ideally, this will be a film like “United 93” that doesn’t capitalize on tragedy and instead, like the trailer, understates its severity and allows the performances and the situation to speak for themselves. Michael Sheen is a strong dramatic actor who hasn’t had a superb role since starring in “The Queen,” and Maria Bello has also turned in fine, nearly Oscar-nominated performances in both “The Cooler” and “A History of Violence.” This is not going to be an easy film to get through, and certainly a complex and troubling experience. I’m sure there will be many people who won’t want to or be able to see it, but it looks like it could be profoundly moving and exceptionally well-done, and that’s my hope for this drama, due out in May.