THE Los Angeles-based Beach Boys produced hit after hit in the 1960s thanks to the musical genius of Brian Wilson.
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Paul Dano plays the young Wilson while 20 years later John Cusack takes over the role.
In 1966 Wilson inspired the iconic Pet Sounds, not just sitting at his piano in the recording studio but also directing the musicians.
By the 1980s, though, he’s medicated and isolated and virtually a hermit in his LA mansion.
Two people become important in this part of the top Beach Boy’s life. First there’s Melinda (Elizabeth Banks), amazingly compassionate for a Cadillac saleswoman.
But by far the biggest influence on the neurotic songwriter is the Svengali-like psychologist and his legal guardian, Dr Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).
Landy diagnoses Wilson as paranoid schizophrenic and it’s really up to Melinda to free Wilson. In real life the two eventually married.
And now I can’t get the melody and the words of “everybody’s gone surfin’ - surfin’ USA” out of my head as if it was half a century ago and the Beach Boys were still in their prime.
FOR more than a thousand years pilgrims and religious seekers of truth have trekked the 500-mile route to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela cathedral.
It’s believed the remains of the Apostle James, the patron saint of Spain, are buried there.
In Lydia Smith’s documentary six travellers walk up to six hours a day – covering about 15 miles - with their backpacks, gear and light provisions.
They depart from southern France and can sleep in trailside lodges or, even better, rest up for a few days before tackling the next stages.
For one man he had the choice between learning to kite surf or walk the Camino. Then there’s a British-Brazilian woman who figures the trek will re-shape her life.
She’s chopped off and bleached her hair. A couple of middle-aged men from Canada wander along day after day without complaint, despite being plagued by sunburn.
And of course there’s a French woman who has her three-year-old son for company. On an arduous trail such as the Camino, this could be seen as sheer insanity.
But the scenery seen through Smith’s camera is so spectacular it doesn’t matter whether it’s sunny or raining.
- There will be a Q&A session following the screening of Walking the Camino on Sunday July 19 at 1pm. Visit www.starcinema.org.au for further info.