Honey Boy (2019)

This powerful drama about a child actor, played by Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges at different ages, and his alcoholic rodeo clown father, played by Shia LaBeouf, is very, very good. LaBeouf makes his feature scriptwriting debut and wrote the screenplay, inspired by his life as a child actor and son of an alcoholic rodeo clown, in court-ordered rehab in 2017.

Israeli director Alma Har'el makes her feature directing debut. The movie earned a big pile of nominations, including the Spotlight Award from the American Society of Cinematographers for director of photography Natasha Braier, and wins, including the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a First-Time Feature Film from the Directors Guild.

The music, by Alex Somers, is available for your streaming pleasure on Apple Music with a subscription and free on Spotify.

La Beouf was last blogged for The Peanut Butter Falcon, Jupe for Ford v. Ferrari and then he starred in the HBO series The Undoing. Hedges was most recently in these pages for Ben Is Back and Somers for Captain Fantastic. Har'el has directed three documentaries and Braier also shot The Infidel, among others.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are still sweet on this one, averaging 94 and 92%, respectively. You can watch it with a subscription to Amazon Prime. Imdb reminds me there are bonuses during the credits (I call them bonuses, imdb calls them crazy credits), so don't turn off your TV right away.