Beautiful Boy (2018)

Told in small vignettes which don’t follow chronological order, Beautful Boy is a remarkably powerful film which doesn’t try to solve the problem it is exploring, instead just offers the audience a taste of what its real ice subjects endured. No one has answers, in fact the film  explores the desperation arising from never knowing what to do. And perhaps that is the honesty which opens the film to some very real pathos.

I often struggle to appreciate “based on real events” movies as they tend to sugar coat the experiences of their subjects. No one wants a movie made about them that makes them look bad. This film, based on two parallel memories, written by the father and son in question, and each of their experiences with the son’s addiction, feel like it breaks through that barrier to the us to a very honest experience.

The two leads are both on top of their game. Chalamet will clearly one day have an Oscar and Carell has moved far beyond his days as a comedies. Both give beautifully painful performances. Supporting them are the remarkable Moira Tierney and Amy Ryan who both match the leads in intensity and sincerity.

And director Van Groeningen, whose previous film Broken Circle Breakdown was a beautiful breakthrough, here finds a beautiful visual language to tell his story. He juggle the timelines and the points of view expertly, making Beautiful Boy a film to experience, not just watch.

For me it is the honesty the film conveys which made me embrace it. I didn’t feel I was being lead down some path, but let into a painful and still beautiful real life experience that is unfortunately not uncommon.


Beautiful Boy
Starring: Steve Carell, Timothee Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan
Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Writers: Luk Davies, Felix Van Groeningen