Beautiful Boy, which is based on a true story of the relationship between a father and son, where the son is going through a serious drug addiction is a film that at times is frustrating, exasperating and even maddening, but in all honesty, I would not expect a realistically done film about drug addiction to be anything else. The film gives us no easy answers and I appreciated that because with a sickness, or addiction like this, there is no truly easy answers for it. People could argue till the cows come home about why this son who seemed to have a promising future and a loving family would turn to a life of narcotics, but again maybe it was no one single thing that triggered this and nobody, or nothing is to blame in this instance, or even outside of the film as well. It could be argued that people do it out of desperation because of something missing in their life, whether it be due to stress, trauma, loneliness, or many other issues, but at the same time there are also millions of people who have stressful, or intimidating lives at home and at work who are not addicts and would never consider doing so, so henceforth I think there is no concrete answer to how this kind of a situation starts and I think we would all love a simple explanation, so the type of tragedies with this type of addiction as we see displayed in the film could be prevented, but in a lot of ways it is truly out of our hands and even with the best parenting and teachers, unfortunately there will always be a few who will slip through the cracks and become an addict of one kind or another. The frustration I mentioned earlier comes about as we witness the downward spiral this character goes through and how reluctant at times he often is to both admit that he has a problem and also be willing to accept responsibility for it and further do things to help himself. In this case the character in question truly does have a loving and caring family and perhaps in a lot of ways he would have been worse off without that type of support and when the film becomes maddening, albeit in a good and effective way is when this character seems to be doing well and making progress in his recovery only to later suffer relapse after relapse and the problem becomes even more deadly and serious. At one point the character's father is told that battling a crystal meth addiction is very tough and often the success rate can be in the single digits percentage wise. The portrayal of the son played by Timothee Chalamet is a very on spot performance showing the literal ups and downs of this character both while he is on substances, when he is in withdrawal from them and even during the peaks and more successful stages of his sobriety. The performance must have been draining to play and here Chalamet portrays a character that at times we have genuine sympathy and compassion for and at other times we are so frustrated by his lack of success at other times and repeatedly falling into the same traps over and over again. It's a powerful performance as also is Steve Carell as the father who is very devoted and loving to his son and wants to do anything within his power to help him, but at other times he realizes the extent of the addiction and that if there is ever going to be a breakthrough he will have to show some tough love and make hard decisions as well as not giving in to every whim and need of his son. We see in this film how drug addiction can truly tear a family apart and hurt not just the addict, but others who love them as well. Overall this is a film about finding that strength both in yourself as well as having a supportive group of people who will help you to overcome and ultimately achieve your best. Sometimes a success like this can take years even decades and it truly is a tormenting battle for everyone to go through, but as the film suggests there is hope out there and also various means of support and places people can go to who are suffering similar things. This is a powerful film that is one of the most realistic about this type of issue to come along in a while, as well as showing a family bond and showing that perhaps love can conquer all. The eclectic musical score was appropriate and perfect for the type of emotions for each scene and Carell and Chalamet deliver wonderfully genuine and affecting performances in a film that can be a draining watch, but also well worth it.
Review of Beautiful Boy
