Felix Van Groeningen's BEAUTIFUL BOY tracks an extended family beset by a son's addiction

During the end credits for BEAUTIFUL BOY -- the new film from Felix Van Groeningen (who earlier gave us the much better and Oscar-nominated Broken Circle Breakdown) -- we are treated to some information and statistics about the horrendous addiction crisis going on today.

For some, this may serve to underscore the film's importance. For TrustMovies, this mostly seemed like old news -- as did the overlong and tiresome movie that preceded it. This end-title sequence also dropped some information about one of the film's two main characters that seems, given what we've just witnessed, at best surprising and at worst maybe a tad unbelievable.

The Flemish filmmaker, shown at left, who directed the movie, as well as co-wrote it (with Luke Davies, based on the memoirs of the father, David Sheff, and son, Nic Sheff, depicted in the film), draws the expected good performances from stars Steve Carell (dad) and Timothée Chalamet (son), as well as from the entire supporting cast.

The problem lies in the screenplay itself and the many incidents it chooses to offer us. Almost all of these are dour, if not downright negative, as though this poor family has had nothing but depression and mild-to-major trauma to contend with for most of its lifetime. Surely there must have been a few "good times" now and then? If so, you'd never suspect it here. Yes, the filmmaker tosses in a few very brief flashbacks, but they register as little more than standard cliché. After awhile, you begin to wonder why you would choose to spend much time with these dreary folk. That question never goes away for the nearly two-hour running time.

Dad (Carell, above) is a highly-regarded freelance journalist (we observe his credits in everything from The New York Times to Rolling Stone), who is clearly too controlling and pushy, though otherwise a pretty decent guy. Carell lets us see him, flaws and all. Son (Chalamet, below) comes through as pleasant, pretty, and a bit unsure of himself -- the last of which is only compounded by Dad's behavior.

The absent mom is played by the fine Amy Ryan (below), while the more easy-going and caring stepmom is essayed by the also fine Maura Tierney, with a drug-addled sort-of girlfriend brought to life/death by Kaitlyn Dever. The plot, such as it is, goes from on drugs to off them, on and off and on until the movie simply ends. While this is believable, of course, it is also tiring. And something we've seen time and again -- in movies (from The Man With the Golden Arm onward) and very likely at this point in reality.

Nic's degradation (below) seems real enough, as does dad David's reactions to it (occasionally the dialog does sound a bit too much like, "This is an important lesson. Are you listening?"). Otherwise, it's all OK. But little more. One's reaction to a tale like this really ought to be something other than Been there, done that.

From Amazon Studios, the movie -- after opening on both coasts a week or two back -- hits South Florida one week earlier than originally scheduled: today, Friday, October 26. Look for it at the AMC Aventura 24, Regal's South Beach 18 the Cinepolis Grove 15, The Landmark at Merrick Park 7, the Cinemark Palace 20, and Regal's Shadowood 16. Wherever you live around the country, click here (and then click on Get Tickets on the task bar atop the screen) to find the theaters nearest you.

Bello and Sheen in Shawn Ku's BEAUTIFUL BOY: difficult, riveting and awe-inspiring

We've had films about mass murder in high school and university (Elephant and the under-seen but very good Dark Matter come immediately to mind) but until now I don't believe there has been a movie about this subject shown exclusively from the perspective of the parents of the murderer. The very idea of this broadens and enriches our understanding, but who would have guessed that a relatively fledgling filmmaker like Shawn Ku, director and co-writer (along with Michael Armbruster), would come up with something that's, yes, difficult to watch, but increasingly riveting and finally an awe-inspiring accomplishment? We'll soon be getting another film on this topic (Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin), but for now BEAUTIFUL BOY is the first out of the gate.

As writers, Ku (shown at left, on set) and Armbruster choose their details carefully. We never see the massacre (we don't need to), but each tiny bit of information the writers provide about the parents adds to our understanding. And thankfully, we are given none of those cheap "a-hah!" moments. As much as we grasp about these adults and their child (a barely-seen Kyle Gallner, below, who makes his every short appearance count), full comprehension of the event, and how and why it came to be, while desperately needed, remains elusive -- for us and for them.

TrustMovies is usually not a big fan of the hand-held camera, and the more he gets of it in a single sitting, the more jumpy and fretful (just like that camera) he can become. Having said that, Mr. Ku's use of this technique is extraordinary. (His cinematographer, Michael Fimognari, is also responsible for the recent grabber Brotherhood and the smart-but-underseen teen movie Dare.)

Together these two keep that camera moving and come in close, then closer, until you know you're prying.  And yet you go along gladly because Ku and Fimognari know when to move in, how far, and when to stop. They value quiet, and so we're able to be about as close as possible to our protagonists, played by the it-doesn't get-much-better-than Maria Bello (above) and Michael Sheen (below). We enter their minds, and get under their skin. And due to the spot-on work of these actors, the dialog seems so real as to be have been improvised (though I doubt very much that it was.)

By definition these parents, Bill and Kate, bear some responsibility for their son Sammy's actions, but exactly how much? And what might they have done to prevent this? Bill initially will have none of the "responsibility" thing, and Sheen makes it clear that the character cannot begin to face reality yet. Bello's Kate faces it immediately but get too wrapped up in the guilt and the why and the how. Both fall apart in their own way, as they stay with Kate's brother and his wife -- fine jobs from Alan Tudyk (below, right) and Moon Bloodgood (center, right) -- who open their home indefinitely to the pair. Meatloaf Aday (shown, right, in the photo at bottom) also does a beautiful job as the clerk at the motel where Sheen finally retreats.

As we delve further inside our pair, we can't help but empathize as they hear (often by sudden accident) the TV news reports. One particularly nasty FOX-News-type commentator's take on these parents should make you recoil for life from this sort of hate-mongering. Yet, as much as we enter the souls of the two, the ferocity and finality of what their son has done is never far away. It eats around every scene, and into nearly every moment.  How in the world, the movie asks us over and over again, do we empathize with and understand people in this position?  The movie's greatness comes from the fact that it enables us, finally, to do exactly that -- and to a greater extent than we could possibly imagine going in.

For all caring parents -- as problemed as we are, and as many mistakes as we make -- Beautiful Boy will be punishing. But it should be equally rewarding. Utterly specific and beautifully realized, this story of the parents of a boy gone brutally haywire will certainly be among the best films of the year.

Beautiful Boy (from Anchor Bay Films, 100 minutes) opens in select cities this Friday, June 3. In New York, catch it at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the Angelika Film Center. Click here for playdates and showtimes elsewhere.