Beautiful Boy (2018)

Beautiful Boy directed by Felix Van Groeningen is a drama film based on two best-selling memoirs:  David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son's Addiction and Nicholas Sheff’s Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.  The movie Beautiful Boy documents Nicholas Sheff (portrayed by Timothée Chalamet) and how he falls into addiction as his father David Sheff  (portrayed by Steve Carell) makes desperate attempts to help him. During the film, Nicholas goes through many cycles of sobriety and relapse which each time causes more and more strain on his relationships, all while David Sheff goes to great lengths to put an end to his addiction.

The film itself was very hard to watch. Timothée Chalamet did an incredible job of portraying what it was like to fall into addiction. He had such a rawness to his acting and did an impressive job of showing the realness behind addiction. It was heartbreaking to watch the mental and physical transformation of his character over time as he fell deeper and deeper into addiction, and it gave the film another layer of authenticity. Alongside Chalamet, Steve Carell gave an incredible performance portraying the father of an addict. Carell was able to show the desperation and longing for his son to recover, all while also having to take care of his two other children and his wife, as well as maintain a job. He was able to show the audience how this disease doesn't just affect the addict but the entire family. The overall film was beautifully done and there were many things that grabbed my attention, an example being the soundtrack. One of the most memorable songs in the movie was “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” by John Lennon, which David sings to younger Nicholas as he is falling asleep. The song gets brought up later in the film with a page of David’s memoir left out on his desk with the lines written, “Have you seen him? Have you seen my beautiful boy? Tell him I miss him.”  

The film was released in theatres in 2018 and grossed $16 million while having a $25 million dollar budget, making it a box office disappointment. Though it was a disappointment at the box office, most critics praised the film applauding Chalamet and Carell’s performance though some critics thought they left out major details included in the memoir. Beautiful Boy was nominated for 6 awards, some of which being a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, and The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Film.

Overall I would rate this film an 8/10 for its beautiful cinematography and actors, and its gut-wrenching storyline which will leave you thinking about this film for days. The movie is so incredibly authentic and educational, providing you with an insight into the life and horrors of someone struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and what you can do to help and guide someone who is struggling.