Parent – you are either one or have one. And if you are a parent you know it’s the hardest job you have ever had and that even at your best, you rethink all of your parenting choices hoping that you’ve done enough and loved enough to give your children the best start into this world. But the truth is that no one is perfect. Neither parent nor child will be completely perfect.
So, what do you do when the worst imaginable thing happens? Your child has been involved in a shooting at his school and has died. And to make matters even worst, your son was the shooter. This is the subject of Director Shawn Ku’s new film Beautiful Boy.
Kate (Maria Bello) and Bill (Michael Sheen) are highly educated parents living in the suburbs raising one son. Things between Kate and Bill have not been good for a long time as they still remain in the same house, but are emotionally divorced from one another. Their son Sam (Kyle Gallner) is in his first year of college and appears to be having a little difficulty with the transition from high school to college, and none of this seems to be too worrisome to his parents. The morning after a tense conversation with Sam on the phone, Kate and Bill find out that their son was a shooter at his University – killing professors, students and then himself.
But there is no compassion for Kate and Bill, they have lost their only son and the world has only two people they can blame – Kate and Bill. The couple seeks refuge at a relative’s home, only to find that judgment is even with their own family. So, off they go to a motel, where they hide from the rest of the world. During this hideout, they grieve, they blame themselves, they blame each other and they re-examine every choice they made with their son. How could this happen without warning? What signs did they miss?
Along their path of healing they find that they really can only rely on each other. The press has hounded them and followed them with no avail. Both find that they cannot return to their work as they are either on display or pumped for information to eventually be used against them. They never find any real answers to why their son acted as he did. But they find in the end that they have each other.
Beautiful Boy is a well-crafted story (written by Shawn Ku and Michael Armbruster) from beginning to the end. The direction by Shawn Ku has a lyrical style which is necessary for such a gritty and emotionally charged film. This film approaches the subject in a very delicate manner, it doesn’t preach or apologize. It simply is the story of well-meaning people that had a son in trouble, and were themselves so unattached, that they were unable to recognize any major problems with Sam. Maria Bello as Kate and Michael Sheen as Bill are extraordinary performances at Oscar caliber. It would be a sin if they both do not receive Academy Award nominations come award season. Their performances are the glue that keeps this film together. Their work in unison allows this film to achieve a masterful look at something every parent hopes will never happen to them. This is the best film I have seen this year, and if you seek out the best, you must seek out Beautiful Boy.
Beautiful Boy is Rated R for some language and a scene of sexuality and has a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Whatever your movie choice this week, please remember your movie theater etiquette: silence your cell phones & no texting please, don't talk during the film and remove your children if they become a distraction to other audience members. Don't forget that laughing, crying and cheering are always approved behavior and even encouraged.
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-Kay Shackleton is a film historian with special focus on Silent Films, see her work on SilentHollywood.com
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