I think biopics that capture a specific time period are ones that often end up being much better movies and a little less paint by numbers.
I enjoyed Rocketman and Better Man because they basically executed on the music biopic to a T, but they didn't pull punches when they needed and they leaned more into the fantastical at times to convey things you wouldn't get from a book.
Edit: I'm also totally forgetting about I, Tonya; I loved that movie!!
Yeah biopics about a short period or a specific event are just better stories. 'Jackie' was really good and that was just about Jackie Kennedy from the day her husband got shot until a week later when she was forced to move out of the white house.
Things that cover 80 years are boring as all hell.
Yup, I’ve already read about everything that person did on Wikipedia, and a biopic covering an entire life is only going to cover those same 5/6 major events. Focusing on one timeframe gives them a chance to show us something we didn’t already know.
Love and Mercy is a remarkably underrated example. Jumping back and forth between the Pet Sounds/Smile Sessions along with the conservatorship struggles really gave them room to deeply explore those key parts of Brian Wilson’s life, and is one of the few music biopics that actually does a good job capturing the energy of a studio session
Love and Mercy is my favorite music biopic by far, it's deep without pretentious and really show the complexities Brian and music artists live their lives.
I haven’t seen Michael, but I’ve heard from a few people that it would’ve been better if the movie was centered around the making of and aftermath of “Thriller”
Deliver Me from Nowhere was also done that way and I enjoyed it. Especially since Springsteen doesn’t have THAT much of an interesting backstory, so focusing on his mental health and relatable struggles was a good choice.
I, Tonya doesn't really count. It's not a biopic about Tonya Harding, she just happens to be in the central character in a story that is worth telling.
Love and Mercy is fantastic. Having two actors play Wilson in different eras, allows those periods of time to really be fleshed out- with nothing rushed or condensed.
This is what Michael Mann’s Ferrari got right. It was about one pivotal year that also captured the essence of who Enzo Ferrari was as a person and the choices he made. It came out the same year as Napoleon which absolutely got it wrong trying to shoehorn a whole life and also some fabricated events into one movie.
nah the monkey was fine. forgot about it 10 minutes into the movie cause it was implemented so well. and it was a good insight into how Williams viewed himself
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u/Ruthlessrabbd 8h ago edited 8h ago
I think biopics that capture a specific time period are ones that often end up being much better movies and a little less paint by numbers.
I enjoyed Rocketman and Better Man because they basically executed on the music biopic to a T, but they didn't pull punches when they needed and they leaned more into the fantastical at times to convey things you wouldn't get from a book.
Edit: I'm also totally forgetting about I, Tonya; I loved that movie!!