
A movie about The Beach Boys being shallow gets its full meaning when one suggests it thinks that the band in reference made classics. The Beach Boys, known for their songs ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘California Girls’, have throughout the years been belittled as a pop band that lacked the seriousness exhibited by other bands such as the Beatles and later, in the 1970s, the counter-culture artists. It required time for their story to be accepted as a band that consistently pushed the boundaries, which included almost impossible deep harmonies and looking for ways to elevate California sounds to a whole new level. Don Was emphasizes the same point in the new documentary “The Beach Boys Making It Big” saying that these men really were “the most articulate spokespeople for the California dream”.
The main problem here is that ‘The Beach Boys’ film is so self-assured that it seems to be doing good work offering anecdotes already provided by the band’s music. A documentary should be trying to create and piece together something more than what would be done by listening to the collection of a band’s songs. Yet you would not be disappointed to watch a series of recordings of the band because this two-hour movie would not be any different from it too.
Well, in all fairness, it is actually around the two-thirds mark of the movie that was composed of Frank Marshall & Thom Zimny which works as it is more concentrated on the background of the documents for Pet Sounds and Smile creations but then again the movie sadly rushes and finishes the last forty years of the band in underwhelming scenes.
They were in dire straits. Capitol Records released a compilation album called Endless Summer which introduced this 80s kid to the amazing band, and it thrust them into the limelight once more. Where people should be talking about the group’s history and their reasons for staying so adored, instead many talk about the gaudy 2010s Pop music era. There really are a lot of such alternative pop-rock bands that could have been involved, other than the lead singer of OneRepublic saying a few random things. I absolutely adore The Beach Boys and believe that they are still underrated. This documentary did a better job than a lot of other meaningless things to make a case for the second point – what was the need?
Like every other biographical documentary with a set framework, ‘The Beach Boys’ has, in fact, the storyline for the Raising Sons. The group had a few variations in the early years, for example, the film illustrates how they fused together harmonies such as The Four Freshmen and guitar pop rock such as the era’s Dick Dale to form a rather interesting musical try. They also characterize certain tensions that would inform the group as Brian Wilson, the genius of the band, frequently was in creative tension with cousin and band lead Mike Love. Brian was the quiet thoughtful creative who wanted to be sitting and writing and Michael, on the other hand, was a showman who wished to be in front of audiences. For a time, there really were two Beach Boys. One was in the studio and the other was on tour. Another of the film’s great observations is the assertion that The Beach Boys became popular because they were able to reproduce their sound in concert at a time when most other bands, including The Beatles, could not.
As usual, anyone who has a little bit of an idea about The Beach Boys is well aware of the troubled legacy of the Wilson family. “The Beach Boys” touches upon Murry Wilson’s abusive and domineering violence towards his children who eventually sold the catalog out of jealousy. Even so, it feels hesitant to position itself in those murky waters for too long. This is a weakness of the film in that it is always ducking the hitherto core issues which are of the Beach Boys including the artistic and subsequently legal discrepancies that arose between Brian and Mike. Only for it to go back to more palatable stuff and then rush through the conclusion with the unfortunate sense that the film wanted to be a TV series but couldn’t secure the funds needed to complete it.
It creates a puzzling identity crisis for who ‘The Beach Boys’ is targeted at. Sure, fans looking to catch a glimpse of some more interviews or listen to old songs will maybe be satisfied but I have a different view altogether about films revolving around thespians I adore. They should at least try to bring a balance between the love of art and the intricacy of the showcased personality. Perhaps I love the band too much for ‘The Beach Boys’.
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