Beautiful Boy

Hmm where do I begin? This isn't much of a review as it is a discussion because this movie is based off of a true life story and I can't really give an opinion on something which has been proven to have happened. 

Beautiful Boy was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and having had my fair share of knowing and being close to people who struggled with substance abuse, this movie really hit close to home.



This biographical drama is based off of the story of Nicholas Sheff, the titular Beautiful Boy, played by Timothee Chalamet (pictured on the right above) a former straight A, high achieving child who developed a full blown crystal meth addiction by the time he was 17 years old and the struggles his family, most especially his father, went through trying to help him through that addiction.

Timothee Chalamet portrays this troubled teen so accurately and realistically that at some point I found myself just yelling at the screen because it took me back to that point in my experience where I just needed them to stop. That sometimes came off as insensitive but I couldn't stand to see them in so much pain. I'm excited to see him in other projects in the future. I loved him in Ladybird and Interstellar albeit not lead roles but he killed them regardless. Call Me By Your Name would have resonated well with me but I didn't like the concept of the film (I mean a minor and an adult in an intimate relationship? It wasn't exactly Lolita level but it still made me a little uncomfortable).



Addiction is an overdependence on something (could be alcohol, drugs, sex, food and even an activity) in order to feel normal and live a relatively "normal" life. When a person becomes addicted, there is a certain shame and self-loathing that comes with it so the person could become secretive in their actions and most times even lie and steal to feed that addiction. This would put a strain on any normal functioning family. Unfortunately, no one really talks about the emotional trauma that families face when one of their members is addicted.

Medically speaking, addiction is a disease that fortunately can be cured through extensive therapy and appropriate help but there is still a lot of stigma surrounding the topic especially in Nigeria. Parents swear it can never happen to their child meanwhile absolutely no one is immune. Addiction usually stems from emotional/psychological pain as a result of (a lot of the time) childhood sexual, physical or verbal abuse and even neglect. When a child feels helpless in a dysfunctional home, they look for ways to soothe themselves and escape from their reality. Depending on the severity of the trauma, the child could self-soothe by escaping through positive means such art and music and worst case scenario develop split personalities to deal with difficult situations and also through case in point: addiction.

This isn't to say that people who come from a good, healthy home cannot develop this disease but Beautiful Boy shows how addiction can develop when emotional trauma isn't dealt with appropriately and on time. Nicholas Sheff's parents divorced when he was only 4 years old and he probably didn't get the help he needed to cope with such intense emotional trauma at that young age and unfortunately it manifested into a drug addiction later on in his life. He also felt a subtle pressure to be perfect because of how much his dad revered him and his achievements so that may also have been contributory to him using drugs to cope. Thankfully, the real life Nicholas Sheff is 10 years sober now and was ecstatic to have his story shared with the world.

Steve Carell plays the long suffering father and his performance was just absolutely fantastic. His portrayal of the despair that comes with seeing your child in pain and the desperation to find out where they are after they disappear for days on end on a binge was honestly so difficult to watch because it felt very familiar.

On seeing Foxcatcher, I was desperate to see Steve Carell kill another dramatic role and he did just that in Beautiful Boy. After witnessing Matthew McConaughey's transition from the romcom guy to more drama oriented roles as seen in Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar and True Detective Season 1, I started to judge comedic actors a little less harshly. I think being funny especially self-deprecating humor involves tapping into a very dark place so it's no surprise that a lot of comedic actors are venturing off into more dramatic roles. I remember seeing Jim Carrey in a psychological thriller called The Number 23 some years back and much to my surprise he killed the role.



On a side note, Jack Grazer the kid actor who plays Eddie in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel IT portrayed a young Nic Sheff in the movie and he was equally awesome. To develop that sort of tenacity at such a young age takes a whole lot of dedication to your craft so I always appreciate when child actors are thrown in demanding roles.

Unfortunately, our child actors in Nigeria are so square and one dimensional and it just shows that there is a profound lack of professional training in acting or maybe just a simple lack of maturity. This could be because children in the US are entrusted the responsibility of caring for themselves from a very young age so they develop that sense of maturity early on which flows over into something like acting and it's very apparent. This is unlike Nigeria where even up until your 20s, you're still living under the shadow of your parents.

What we need are proper acting workshops where our child actors can be trained professionally before putting them onscreen because it's a little embarrassing having a child look directly into the camera when belting out a line especially one that is supposed to be of utmost importance to the scene. It absolutely destroys the escapism that movies are supposed to provide.