25/09/2026
🎬 YOUR WEEKEND WATCH
If you want a film that shows what addiction looks like from both sides of the relationship, the person trapped inside it and the family desperately trying to save them, Beautiful Boy is one I recommend.
Based on the memoirs of father and son David and Nic Sheff, the film follows a family trying to survive Nic’s addiction, particularly his dependence on methamphetamine.
What makes this film powerful for me is that it does not reduce addiction to a lack of love, discipline or opportunity. Nic is intelligent. He is loved. He has a father who fights relentlessly for him. He has a family that wants him alive. And still, addiction takes hold.
That matters.
Because families often reach a point where they start asking the impossible questions. Why isn't my love enough? What did I miss? What else can I do? How do I save my child?
Beautiful Boy shows the brutal reality that loving someone with an addiction does not give you control over their addiction.
It also captures the cycle so many families know far too well. Hope. Sobriety. Relief. Relapse. Panic. Anger. Another promise. Another attempt. And eventually the devastating understanding that recovery cannot be forced from the outside.
There is a line underneath this entire film that I think every parent, partner and family member affected by addiction will recognise.
I love you. But I cannot do this for you.
⚠️ CONTENT WARNING
Beautiful Boy contains distressing scenes involving drug addiction, methamphetamine and other substance use, relapse, overdose, medical emergencies and intense family distress. If addiction, overdose or losing someone to substance use is particularly raw for you at the moment, consider whether this is the right film for you right now.
It is not an easy watch.
But it is one of those films that reminds us why addiction should never be reduced to just stop using.
Have you watched Beautiful Boy? What stayed with you afterwards?
Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David...
