Beautiful Boy

Yesterday afternoon I sat down to watch what has turned into to my daily movie viewing challenge.  Instead of going for something tried and true, you know, that I knew all the dialogue or words to the music, I decided to stay with the more contemporary (ahem, Timothee Chalamet) offerings.  I chose “Beautiful Boy” with Chalamet, Steve Carell, Maura Tierney and a host of others.  

I have always liked Steve Carell and have seen him a number of things.  I loved “The Office” for his comic talent but I have seen him in dramatic stuff and he was top notch.  This performance was no different.

I have been a fan of Maura Tierney since he “ER” days.  I am a sucker for a great medical series and “ER” didn’t disappoint (neither did “New Amsterdam” or “The Good Doctor”).  So, I was pleasantly surprised to see her in the cast.  She has always seemed so “real” to me and I like that in an actress.

Timothee Chalamet surpassed expectation.  This boy gave the most gut wrenching, accurate performance I have seen in a long time.  I don’t usually chose to watch movies, or programs, that are so painfully graphic  but I feel that his performance was spot on.

I was a visually dark movie so I can’t say much about the scenery but I will say the music was great — the showpiece being Lennon’s “Beauiful Boy”. 

Going with that though, this was the most painful, panic-producing, frightening movie I have seen in, well, a long time to not be a horror flick.  The agony that parents go through watching an addicted child that can’t be rehabilitated in indescribable.  By the time it was over I was hyperventilating, almost in tears, giving thanks that I never had to deal with a situation like this and swearing that I will not re-watch this movie, ever.

I grew up in a part of the country that, as far back as I can tell, there was always a drug issue.  I was a teenager in the 60’s — the age of enlightenment, I knew a few kids that got sucked into the drug culture and didn’t come out of it.  However, I don’t think it was “then”  like it is “now” but I do blame “now” on “then”.   I blame my generation, to be honest, on a lot of the issues we see with our youth.  I don’t say that out loud and publicly but having lived across all these decades and seeing how things have changed I can’t help but believe that my generation was so instrumental in the issues facing our youth today.

I can honestly say, though, “not me”.  I didn’t participate in the drug thing, I didn’t drink, I didn’t live loosely, I went to church and did my homework and grew up unaddicted (well, unless you count sugar) and reasonably functional.  And I can prove it.

How you might ask?  I am 73 years old and I am still alive.  What does that mean?  There were things my parents wouldn’t tolerate — drugs/alcohol being one of them — and my mother lived by the old adage “I brought you into the world and I can take you out” and I have no doubt that she would have followed through.  I was her only shot at a baby but that didn’t mean she was going to put up with shenanigans — and I certainly didn’t test her.  She was tiny but a force to be reckoned with nonetheless.  Besides, I didn’t like the taste of alcohol and still don’t and I don’t like feeling groggy and out of control so it wouldn’t have been an issue anyway.  

Enough about me, back to the movie.

Do I recommend?  No, not if you are affected by the subject matter.  I won’t watch it again.  Yes, I recommend if you want to witness some really good performances.  This movie is a double edged sword.

We moved on to the series “All the Light We Cannot See” which is different than we usually watch but so far it is very good.  It is in four parts and we watched the first two.  Makes me so glad I was born after the WW2 era.