Last night I journeyed to Leichardt to see the new movie, Love and Mercy at the Palace Cinema in Norton St. Ostensibly a biopic about the life of The Beach Boys Brian Wilson, the film cleverly navigates two crucial periods in Wilson's life - the time during the gestation and creation of Pet Sounds, and a later time when the middle-aged Wilson was under the care of a radical (and possibly, criminal) therapist.

Insights are offered into the Wilsonian creative process and we see an innovator and enabler of extraordinary talent. In trying to break with the more formulaic earlier (yet highly successful) BB material, Wilson inevitably creates friction within the band and within himself.The ubiquitous cocktail of drugs and excess are simply too much for the sensitive and seemingly misunderstood soul of the younger Brian, who lapses into increasing mental ill-health.

During the course of Love and Mercy, my thoughts often flew to my departed friend, Robert Mumford. Robert was a huge fan of The Beach Boys and as the film progressed, I was reminded of conversations we had had two decades earlier. Somehow the minutiae of those rambling Mumford monologues have stayed with me to this day. It occurs to me now that Robert probably saw a lot of Brian Wilson in himself and his own circumstances in life.

So as the opening credits of the movie rolled, I resolved to watch this fine movie for both of us.