Documentary Watch - American Masters: Brian Wilson

The most recent PBS installment of American Masters is Brian Wilson. I think it does as good of a job of telling the Wilson story as one can given only 80 minutes. Wilson is of course, anxious and interviewer Jason Fine from Rolling Stone magazine is someone who Wilson has a comfort level with. So we get a good conversation and a few insightful moments like Brian listening to the “Pacific Ocean Blue” album in its entirety for the first time. Wilson is someone we have wrapped with the great Rock n Roll myth. I suspect we tend to take those young and hugely famous as Brian and mentally stereotype them, as he talks about the infamous living room sandbox. We do get a very human side of Brian. He feels like an uncle or an older relative. It’s clear life is not easy for him, but he is not a totally mental casualty as sometimes he gets portrayed either. Wilson improbably has become a very active live performer recently, but you can still tell life outside his home is difficult for him. Through Fine, we get as close as a sit down with the legend as most anyone ever will. It is probably impossible to tell the story of Wilson without mentioning Eugene Landy, the disgraced celebrity psychologist. It’s still a complicated relationship in that it was surely hurtful for Brian, but Brian still sees positive in it. There are a great deal of celebrities and collaborators who chime in - Elton John, Springsteen, Nick Jonas, Linda Perry, Don Was, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Jakob Dylan as well as archival footage of Carl and Dennis and on a sad note, the recently late Taylor Hawkins. I’m not a huge fan of Brian Wilson I’m the expected sense of the word. I love the early Beach Boys hits. I think “Pet Sounds” and “Smile” are just ok. There I said it. There are going to be a lot of opinions around this movie, and certainly about Brian. I think it is a good portrait, done respectfully and I enjoyed it. (I did not realize this but this episode was released last year as the movie “Long Promised Road”)