Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of 'Smile'

After years of reading books, magazines, listening to bootlegs, compiling my own mixes on cassette, watching made-for-TV scripted films as well as documentaries, which I switched off after the SMiLE section, there's finally an entire film about the one album. Thank God. Now, for all of us who obsess, this is the perfect documentary. rare photos, film footage, modern-day interviews, behind the scenes rehearsals for the recording sessions and the tour, it's all there. It's everything you wanted to know about SMiLE and then some. No longer merely touched upon for its 5 to 10 minutes in the grand scheme of things, SMiLE is out there. I think now Brian Wilson can not only retire in extreme wealth, but also at peace. His dream has finally been realized and the cameras let us watch it all unfold.

In my opinion, The Beach Boys are possibly the most overrated 'pop' band in history. Striped shirts, falsetto vocals, Mike Love, and not an ounce of grit or sweat between them. Well, maybe Dennis had an ounce or two. That said, whilst I remain a committed nonbeliever in the genius of the film's subject, Beautiful Dreamer is undeniably a moving experience. Brian Wilson's continuing battle to overcome mental illness is a truly heroic one, and even though the man can't sing anymore, he still puts his heart and soul into everything he does. The music may be overproduced slush, but Wilson believes in it heart and soul, and for that he must be commended. Fans of the band will be extremely happy with this overly respectful but solid documentary tribute to a man and his art.

Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of 'Smile' (2004)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely touching documentary about the greatest rock 'n roll album that was never made. This film talks about the making of The Beach Boys album 'Smile' which was set to be the follow-up to their masterpiece 'Pet Sounds' but the band and record label didn't like the fact that Brian Wilson was spending so much time on something that wasn't guaranteed to be a hit. The making of Smile is legendary on so many levels. On one hand you have the actual brilliance of what the album was supposed to be. On another hand you have a powerful band ripping themselves apart. You have way too many drugs being used. You have a record label not wanting an artist to do something artistic. Then you've got Wilson who was doing too many drugs, was trying to do something that had never been done before and eventually he would suffer a nervous breakdown. This is a wonderfully entertaining documentary that takes a look back at these days and the amount of detail given is quite special. One of the most entertaining things is hearing about The Beatles and The Beach Boys kept trying to one up each other and we get to hear from George Martin about the band's constant hearing of this special album that never came to be. We get a pretty honest interview from Wilson who doesn't shy away from the topics including how this album has pretty much haunted him throughout his life. It all ended when Wilson decided to put 'Smile' back together and take it on the road. I think it would be unfair to call this the definitive look at the making of the album simply because so many of the other people involved are not interviewed here. With that being said, what this movie really is is a rather amazing and unique comeback story for Wilson. I must admit that the ending was quite powerful and emotional as we see Wilson pretty much getting this monkey off his back after 37 years. Fans of the band are going to love what's here but hopefully one day we can see the other side of the story.

"Beautiful Dreamer" is a lovingly produced account of the rise and tragic fall of Brian Wilson and his subsequent musical and spiritual rebirth, centered around the piece of music that was both his undoing and his salvation--the legendary pop symphony "SMiLE." Using straightforward narrative and extensive interviews from friends, collaborators and "witnesses," David Leaf's film follows Brian from his creative zenith with the Beach Boys, 1966's incomparable "Pet Sounds," through his creation with lyricist Van Dyke Parks of an even more ambitious follow-up, 1967's ultimately-aborted "Smile" project. Participants as diverse as Sir George Martin, Paul McCartney, Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night, Elvis Costello, Leonard Bernstein (in archival footage) and many others recall how Wilson inspired them to create some of their best work, not least of which was the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album.

The documentary clearly puts the blame for Brian's collapse (and "Smile"'s failure) at the feet of the other Beach Boys and especially Mike Love, who envisioned the group as a "cash cow" as long as nobody messed with the cars/surf/girls "formula". Interviewees (Wilson's closest friends among them) debunk longstanding urban legends about Brian's alleged drug use and its supposed blame for his collapse, and the film offers glimpses inside Brian's paranoia--notably how he came to believe his composition "fire" was actually causing buildings to burn.

Most inspiring, the documentary shows how Wilson's backup band, the amazing alt-pop group the Wondermints, helped him to revisit the original compositions and augment and arrange the surviving segments into a cohesive score. It's truly inspiring to see Wilson's transformation from the throes of depression and mental illness to joyous, unencumbered musical genius as the completed "SMiLE" debuts to a sellout crowd in London.

Rich with rare archival footage and revealing interviews, "Beautiful Dreamer" handles its subject with care, giving both longtime Wilson fans and newcomers plenty to "smile" about.

The oft-told tale of triumph and tragedy has been around since the birth of rock-and-roll. The leader of a group concocts a sound that is like no other, catapulting them into undreamed of fame and fortune, yet when he (or she) struggles to move beyond the profitable niche into a place where they can reach for something more substantial, it just about tears the group and their music apart. Demons loom in the foreground and threaten to vanquish Our Hero, until by the grace of some extraordinary miracle, said demons are slain, creation is born out of chaos, and the light at the end of a very long tunnel brings the whole thing to a happy ending.

It's not the way things are resolved for many of music's best and brightest, but "God only knows" that if anyone deserved it, it was Beach Boys wunderkind Brian Wilson. And after nearly forty years, the complete tale is finally told about the Great White Whale of rock albums that nearly destroyed not only Brian, but the iconic concept that was the Boys themselves - the "SMILE" album.

Never a huge fan of the group, their happy, California-sunshiney pop had its place and time, I thought there was a place for their sound, when you were in the mood for that kind of music. But once I began to look beyond songs like "Surfin' Safari" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" and began to discover gems like "Sail On, Sailor", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" and of course "God Only Knows," I could detect that there was something more underneath the striped shirts-and-board shorts persona. There was more to be said, things that were only being hinted at...and that's when part of the "SMILE" story came to light for me.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMER finally fills in the gaps, revealing all the triumph, tragedy and ultimate renewal of Brian Wilson as an artist, a composer and a man. You always get the juicy and convenient sound bites these days about any group's good times and bad times, about the influence their work has on other musicians and writers and all the behind-the-scenes squabbles, in-fighting and machinations.

But you will probably never again hear it told as vividly or engagingly by friends, admirers and some of the people who were actually there when it happened.

And then there is the man himself...Having gone from enormous success, to the deepest depression and obsession leading to a downward spiral into madness, rising like a phoenix once again to solve the conundrum of the project that consumed and nearly destroyed his life, only to give it back to him again...

What a story, and what an album. For music lovers, for fans and non-fans alike of Mr. Wilson and his brothers and compatriots, this is an essential, spellbinding viewing experience.

I can happily speak from experience, that there is nothing like seeing this music performed live...but BEAUTIFUL DREAMER comes awfully close to equaling the joy and wonderment of the experience, if it can't duplicate it outright.