There’s definitely an exploitative feel to Brent Wilson’s “Long Promised Road,” an intimate documentary about Beach Boys singer-songwriter Brian Wilson. Throughout, you get that feeling of awkwardness, sitting and watching in an uncomfortable state as the legendary Wilson is used as an emotional vehicular device for on-cue drama. I felt sorry for Brian. He’s a harmless fellow, but filled with the inner demons of his past. The way Rolling Stone writer Jason Fine interviews him is akin to an adult speaking to a child, talking down to him with simple sentences and condescension. I mean, is Wilson really that far gone? Maybe he is. The film tells us that he has been battling a form of schizophrenia since 1974. He’s had his fair share of mental and physical turmoil over the years, but he definitely deserves a little more respect than this. Having him be manipulated to cry on cue isn’t my idea of fair game; take for example, when Fine parks his car next to Wilson’s late brother’s home, Brian doesn’t want to go in, so Fine leaves him in the vehicle while a hidden camera lays on the windshield and his dead brother’s song is left playing by Fine on the car stereo. The window camera still filming, we see Brian wiping off many tears. This is brutally manipulative stuff.
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Cory Finley, a talented filmmaker, has directed three films so far: "Thoroughbreds" (2017), "Bad Education” (2020), and "Landscape with Invisible Hand.”