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| Photo from Internet Movie Poster Awards |
Length: 2h
Genre: Drama
Rating: Restricted
Released: Sept. 7, 2018
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Welcome back!
Going back to the last blog’s comment on comfort films, I can’t even remember how many times I have seen the film of choice for today’s topic, Beautiful Boy. Similarly to last week, I think this film is so underrated and is another film that I can’t recommend enough. Now, I might live under a rock, but everyone I have mentioned this film to hasn’t watched it. I know I originally watched it because Timothee Chalamet plays Nic Sheff, one of the main characters, and I was going through a Timothee Chalamet phase at the time (it’s not a phase.) To my surprise then, it was beautifully made even though the story itself can be described as ugly since there isn’t anything pretty about addiction. Truly, I can't think of a word can describe how fantastically the film was made.
Other than the previously mentioned, Steve Carell is also a main character in this film. I am not necessarily a fan of his because I haven’t seen many things that he has been in (sorry to The Office fans), but I can appreciate and acknowledge that he is a fantastic actor. I think the acting was off the charts. The film was based on two memoirs, one titled Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. I was so obsessed with this film that I bought Nic Sheff’s book on Amazon in 2020 (I went through my previous Amazon orders; I don’t just remember this.) To be honest, I don’t remember if I read it or the content if I did read it, but now I want to.
I believe it would be hard to act in a film that is based on a true story since it has already happened. Someone has felt that and the actor has not but they have to act as if they did in an attempt to accurately depict someone else’s life and feelings and they have to do it well because there is already a mold. Not to mention, Nic Sheff is alive and one can only guess that he would be present during filming or at least watch the film, so add the pressure from that. I don’t know any science to it, but I think that would have been so mentally difficult. Anyway, let’s get into my thoughts about the film.
In the film, Jack Dylan Grazer was casted as young Nic Sheff. Now, I like Grazer in It (the film), but I don’t think he was the best choice, looks-wise, to play this role. I don’t think he favors Timothee Chalamet enough. What I will say is in one of the beginning scenes he does walk like Chalamet and that made me giggle. Another thing I want to note is that up until or close to the middle of the film, it was a jumping timeline. I don’t know if that’s the proper term, but one thing you should know about me is I don’t like a timeline like that (more about my opinion on that coming Thursday). However, somehow it worked in this film. I can’t explain why I think it works, but how it was done doesn’t make it confusing. It’s very clear what has happened and what is happening.
A lot of my thoughts are centered more around how addiction was presented in the film than the film in general, but I think that is what is supposed to happen. Even though the film is a drama, I think it is very informative. First, I want to note that it shows that rehab isn’t always the answer. As a society, I think a lot of us think that if someone has an addiction they just need to go to rehab and everything will be better, but that’s not necessarily the case. Sure it will work for some people, but that doesn’t mean it’s an antidote for addiction. The film also shows how quickly things can change between being sober and wanting to be clean to being high and thinking it’s better if you don’t. Similarly, it also shows how addicts may think they have it under control when really, they don’t. It’s a slippery slope and I think that is also a concept that can’t fully be grasped by anyone (including myself) unless they’ve gone through it.
I also want to mention how the film showed how one person’s addiction affects not only the addict themselves but the people surrounding them as well. This is where I could go on and on about how amazing the acting was in the film, but I won’t get on that soapbox now. We see how Carell’s character was indirectly affected by the drugs. He was losing sleep, in a state of constant worry, and spending so much money to try and help his son. Not only was he affected, so was his wife, his other children and his ex-wife, and that’s only the characters we can visibly see that were affected. We see throughout the film both main characters slowly breaking down scene by scene.
Continuing the parent conversation, it showed that a parent can generally do everything right, and things can still go wrong. I also want to mention that in the film, the father and son were really close but he didn’t know everything like he thought he did. This is obvious in Chalamet’s character’s want to use initially, and when his dad thought he was clean but the viewer knew he wasn’t. I feel a lot of parents in this situation think it’s either their fault, or they can't possibly fathom why their children would want to start using. It just shows that you can’t know everything and you can’t assume. Thinking like that, I believe this film can also open doors to mental health conversations and things that happen below the surface.
According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2022, 107,941 people died due to drug overdose and The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that opioid abuse is a major contributor to the drug overdose crisis. According to the NIDA, in 2021 about 2.5 million people ages 12 and up had used methamphetamine within the previous 12 months. This is an issue that isn’t going away. I urge you to read what you could do to help, get CPR certified and stay up to date on other life saving procedures.