As we cinephiles remember the musical giant Brian Wilson, who died on June 11, we might be tempted to turn to the Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys, from last year. That’s a decent place to start, but a more interesting take — and a better film — can be found in Love & Mercy, from 2025, starring Paul Dano and John Cusack as the young and middle-aged Wilson, respectively.

As I noted in my original review, “The film’s greatest cultural contribution might be its revelatory portrait of a man we mistakenly thought we already knew – a man who, for much of his life, lacked his own inner harmony despite his ability to create beautiful harmonies for the rest of us.”