Starring: Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan. Directed by: Felix Van Groeningen
There’s a grand tradition in the run up to awards season of the funny person doing serious. Most famously, Robin Williams won his Oscar for Good Will Hunting, but he was already a well-respected award nominated performer who had been in critically acclaimed dramas. Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon, The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and even this year Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me? are good examples, but even with an Oscar nomination already under his belt, Steve Carell gives one of his most nuanced performances in Beautiful Boy.
Directed by Felix Van Groeningen and adapted from two memoirs, the film is the story of the relationship between freelance writer David Sheff (Carell) and his son Nic (Timothee Chalet) as Nic battles an addiction to Crystal Meth, and the impact it has on them and those around them.
Addiction in film is a popular route to winning awards. Like mental illness, it’s not completely understood, but makes for a compelling emotional journey to watch, and this film does compel us to keep watching. Beautiful Boy is an interesting work because of its source: the memoirs of a father, and then a separate one by the son. This brings a more rounded view to the events that unfold, and Van Groeningen directs and adapts the works with understanding and sympathy.
There’s some flashy back and forth of time frames, flashing forward and then showing the events that lead to that very well, and it helps that Steve Carell completely sells his caring, supportive father who is willing to do anything to try and help his firstborn. There’s not a lot of Carell-isms, hardly a joke in sight, but unlike in Foxcatcher in which Carell was able to hide behind a big fake nose to cover up his identity, here he can just use the simple facial expressions to show the changes in Sheff’s personality.
Chalamet continues to be the best young actor currently working, having gained an Academy Award nomination for last year’s Call Me By Your Name, now as Nic Sheff he manages to change his entire form and switch emotions quickly. It’s a transfixing performance that allows the audience to be both compelled to want him to get better but to also be completely furious when he lets himself down.
There’s great support from Maura Tierney as David’s second wife, and Amy Ryan as Nic’s mother, both of whom are not made to be evil or bad, but people who are somewhat on the outside of this super close relationship and see the bigger picture of addiction.
The film uses its soundtrack well, not becoming Awesome Mix volume 2 but setting the stage for the time it’s supposed to be and being able to elicit the correct emotion at any given time. The cinematography works well, but it is at it’s best when it’s not focussing on anything in particular.
In the end, the film is clearly an awards contender, and there’s no doubt the eyes of the world will be on Carell and Chalamet, and this is well-deserved; the performances keep the film going even when the style begins to become a little distracting.
