Being Flynn is a viscerally heart-breaking true story about the self-proclaimed “truly great American writer”, Johnathon Flynn. What makes it so particularly striking is that it isn’t actually his story at all, he just wishes it was.

Being Flynn actually follows Johnathon’s son, Nick (Paul Dano) as he attempts to live his life without his estranged father (Robert DeNiro), or his recently departed mother (Julianne Moore). When Nick begins to volunteer at a local homeless shelter, he is saddened (but not all together shocked) when his deadbeat father arrives seeking a place to stay.

As a life study, Being Flynn succeeds in making us feel for the characters as we watch them all head toward a downward spiral, but as a story, it is impeded by it’s conventions and begins to feel stale towards the middle. The lull doesn’t last for long however, the climax of the film is easily one of the most haunting and touching moments so far in 2012, but one can’t help but wonder how the story would have been able to survive without the impeccable acting skills of Paul Dano, Robert DeNiro, Julianne Moore and Olivia Thirlby.

Seeing Paul Dano assume the demanding role of a leading man was not only refreshing, but delightfully unexpected. After seeing Dano grow only through the hazy lens of supporting actor roles alongside powerhouse actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Alan Arkin, one would see why it would be easy to see him slip into the wallpaper. Fortunately, blending into the background isn’t something that Dano ever does, and he proves himself against the likes of (the) Robert DeNiro in this film more than once.

Another striking quality was the film’s firm position as a modern day fable. New York enthusiasts will probably place the aforementioned “Suck City” firmly in their neighborhood, but fashion statements and obvious landmarking is something that Being Flynn avoids much to the audience’s benefit. It’s not about Suck City, it’s about the relationship between a misguided twenty-something and his woefully delusional father.

This is something that director Paul Weitz had intended from the start since he had envisioned Nick Flynn’s original novel, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir as a modern day fable. The choice to keep brand names, technology and any real clues to the era were intentional.

“I tried really hard to not nail it to a particular year,” said Weitz, “I ended up excluding things like laptops, cell phones. I never sat down and said ‘this is 1983, so we need this kind of music.'” In addition, he also stated that he didn’t want the entire cast doing “their version of a Boston accent”, so the location of “Suck City” was something else that was kept firmly wrapped behind the guise of a fable.

DeNiro doesn’t disappoint in this film, although some scenes take his unfortunate madness a little over the top in an effort to give him a little more to do. His quieter moments evoke more emotion without overstating it, and it seems that there might have been a small struggle over who’s story Being Flynn is really about.

This is, of course, the point, but the film is hindered by it’s self awareness. The film begins with a narration by DeNiro before quickly switching to a voice-over from Paul Dano with a quick explanation from DeNiro about this “not being his story”. The film then swaggers between points of view, often pausing to remind us all that DeNiro is slowly working his way into homelessness. A more focused storytelling technique could have benefitted Being Flynn but the artistic choice to include the unreliable storyteller archetype was almost charming enough to warrant its faults.

In fact, the pace of the story is well orchestrated enough to guide us through these momentary lapses, and that too wasn’t an accident. “In a story with narration, especially one like Being Flynn with two narrations, you need to plan the transitions,” said Weitz. “So every shot and every transition [was] planned out ahead of time.”

The choice to cast DeNiro in the first place proved to be a very effective tool. Much in the same way that a son would despair in seeing his father descend into selfish madness, we as an audience feel pained to see DeNiro acting so pathetic. On the other hand, this eventually proves to be one of those “self-awareness” issues, and since Dano’s character doesn’t necessarily know his father it might have been useful to see a less familiar face assume the role.

If this were to happen however, we would have missed one of DeNiro’s most visceral and heart-breaking roles in years. He nails it, but one wishes that director Paul Weitz could have kept him under a little tighter direction to keep his madness from appearing too farcical.

Overall, Being Flynn begins by grabbing the viewers by their emotional jugular and refusing to let go. As the film weaves its very emotionally complex relationship around itself, it also exposes the faults in its storytelling by choosing to focus more on Johnathon Flynn’s downward spiral rather than Nick’s, but the collective talent of the actors manages to lift the experience into a deeply satisfying and emotional film.

Grade: B

Rated: R (for language throughout, some sexual content, drug use, and brief nudity)

Being Flynn opens nationwide on March 2nd.