Beautiful Boy: A heartbreaking showcase of both love and hate, family and separation, but mostly importantly, addiction and recovery. For what was a movie I wanted to see simply to support the works of my favorite actor, Timothee Chalamet, it quickly became one of the most impactful pieces of cinema I have ever watched. As someone who never gets overly emotional during movies, I can say with confidence that this is one of the first to ever make me cry.
Beautiful Boy follows the life of teenage boy, Nicolas Sheff. Nic portrays a college-bound 18 year old, with a promising future ahead. He deeply aspires to be a writer and he presents as hugely charismatic. As a kid, he was as happy as could be, largely enjoying doing activities with his father, David Sheff. Speaking of, David Sheff is arguably just as important as Nic in this story. David becomes a prominent figure from the moment the film opens up, where we learn that David’s beloved son had gone missing and was dealing with drug problems. The movie hooks you in immediately by placing you right in the scene where David Sheff expresses his challenges understanding who Nic is sometimes, even though other times he feels like he knows him, “inside and out.” From this moment on, the movie goes back and forth between wisps of memories, a combination of flashbacks and flashforwards. Nic is in and out of his home, moving from rehab to halfway houses to being missing again. Nic’s struggle with a meth addiction basically plants the seeds for the remainder of the film.
Addiction is extremely hard to depict on screen because, like it says in the movie itself: Addiction is a disease. Personally, I have not had anyone in my family struggle with addiction; However, I think that makes this movie even more of a must-watch. The acting in this movie, compared to others, is extremely realistic. It shows how much addiction can ruin a person and consequently their relationships with others. Because addiction is such a prominent issue today, I think it is essential that everybody understands how infectious and unforgiving this disease is to the people it affects. It is not just some “moral failure” or “defect.” This film really opened my eyes to struggles others deal with on a daily basis, and if anything, it made me value my familial relationships more strongly.
That being said, this movie is a mature and sad watch. I would not recommend watching it with family or friends, because I think the content in this movie is something that needs to be digested individually. Whether dealing with similar problems or not, I think this movie can carry a new meaning to every person who views it.
I would recommend everyone to see Beautiful Boy at least once in their lifetime. It truly delivers a new weight to responsibility, blame, and mental health, especially given the fact that it is based on a true story.
