A truthful illustration of pain and love
It looks like it will be the battle of the addiction movies this awards season as both Beautiful Boy and Ben is Back are both being poised as powerful and involving stories about youths struggling with the all-too-real monsters of addiction, and their family’s relentless efforts to hold onto them. Ultimately looking at addiction from different angles, while hoping to shine a spotlight on a never ending disease, both films are expected to be propped up throughout the entire season with pundits watching to see which one manages to hit its message home best. The first one up, Beautiful Boy, has a major advantage in telling its story, namely that it’s based on a pair of true-life memoirs from its lead figures. The result is a tale of addiction and love searingly told from two distinct vantage points that brings a striking authenticity to this oft-visited sub-genre.
In Beautiful Boy, celebrated writer David Sheff (Steve Carell) struggles to hold himself and his family together as his oldest son Nic (Timothee Chalamet) falls deeper and deeper into a crystal meth-filled abyss. With his current wife Karen (Maura Tierney) and former wife/Nic’s mother Vicki (Amy Ryan) able to help only up to a point, David journeys to his emotional limits in an effort to save his son.
I’m sure there will be those who will make mention of Beautiful Boy’s glossy studio look when it comes to pointing out criticism about the film, almost as if a movie so lush looking could never contain the kind of great dramatic weight necessary for a subject such as addiction. However there’s something to be said for the film’s gorgeous cinematography, inviting California settings, and eclectic music choices when juxtaposed against the darkness of addiction. The contrast between the two sides of dark and light really drives Beautiful Boy’s central idea that even the ugliest of human afflictions remain ugly, regardless of where it happens. It’s the film’s talking points such as that one, as well as the deep family issues which come with addiction (including blame, isolation and detachment), where Beautiful Boy excels dramatically. Some may rightfully call the movie “talky” due its long stretches of dialogue-heavy scenes. Yet what the film is really doing is exploring the fact that addiction spreads itself to the point where it eventually touches everyone involved in one way or another. The one commonality shared by those affected by addiction is the one Beautiful Boy does the most right by; namely, the struggle on everyone’s part to understand or make sense of addiction. We see it through David’s torment at not being able to help his son, Nic’s frustration towards his inability to stay clean, and both men’s desire to be everything they can for each other.
You could say it’s the architecture of the film itself which provides the most authentic portrait of addiction. Beautiful Boy more or less opens with Nic already knee deep in his addiction before being quickly shuttled off to rehab within the first ten minutes. What follows is a non-linear tale chronicling stretches of sobriety, relapse, arguing, and crying. It’s certainly a deeply authentic method to telling such a story and greatly mirrors the reality of a family struggling to understand and survive addiction. Beautiful Boy also does succeed in the way it takes the time to equally explore both of the film’s vantage points. There are no heroes or villains at the center of this tale, but rather two people who love each other more than anything and are trying to hold onto themselves in the face of something which proves more powerful than either of them. Switching back and forth between David and Nic may perhaps give the more passive audience member a case of movie whiplash, yet seeing how the younger Sheff navigates the rollercoaster odyssey that is his disease is just as absorbing as watching his father try and figure out what he could have done to prevent his son’s current state. Throughout its entirety, the questions that are asked, the missteps that are made, are all important ones that the film never shortchanges, nor strays away from. Because of this, Beautiful Boy remains a genuine chronicle of a problem more real than ever.
Beautiful Boy’s two leads are just phenomenal. Any remaining doubts about Carell’s capabilities as a dramatic talent should all but disappear as the actor gives his character everything he has, drawing tears from his audience in the process. Meanwhile, Chalamet continues to show that the hype surrounding the young actor is justified as he bravely goes for broke, bringing the stark rawness of Nic’s story to life. In their moments together, the pair make for the most dynamic of scene partners, evoking such power that it’s impossible not to feel the strength and love within each embrace they share. Some may claim the women of the film may have been left by the wayside due to the fact that Beautiful Boy is primarily a father/son story. Yet both Ryan and Tierney work wonders, giving deeply affecting performances despite their underwritten roles. This is especially true of the former, who gives Beautiful Boy one of its most emotionally wrought moments.
It always seems that the typical ending to most any film dealing with addiction culminates in a scene with the character in question being sent off to rehab to deal with their disease, as if simply walking through the doors of such a facility is enough to signify a happy ending. Beautiful Boy knows this isn’t the case for everyone. It knows that true recovery is something that is a mountainous process full of both back tracks and small victories alike. I don’t think that the idea of battling addiction as a lifelong journey could have been illustrated better than in the film’s incredibly open ending in which no real moment of resolution is given. Instead, the film has the guts to just end. While this may not be to everyone’s tastes, it’s an incredibly fitting manner with which to say goodbye to the Sheffs since there’s no clear end to a story such as theirs, mainly because there’s no end to addiction itself. What there is however, is both control and hope.
