Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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domino harvey
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Re: Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#176 Post by domino harvey » Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:00 am

Watched both the Jolson Story (Alfred E Green 1946) and Jolson Sings Again (Henry Levin 1949) and while I thoroughly hated the first film (and I’m sure many of you love William Demarest like I do from all those Preston Sturges movies, but his performance is one of the worst ever to receive an Oscar nomination— it is without exaggeration 75% shitty reaction shots and “atta boy”s), the second throws a curve ball: in continuing the story of Jolson beyond what was depicted in the first film, the second half of the sequel details... the making of the first film, with Larry Parks as Al Jolson tutoring and praising Larry Parks as Larry Parks. It is one of the strangest and most unexpectedly self-reflexive films I’ve seen from this era, especially in contrast to the maudlin garbage of the original

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#177 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Mar 31, 2020 4:55 pm

In the last couple years (or even months) from this list project, a few notable eccentric approaches to biopics have been louder than I can remember in some time. Making a list now, it would be hard for Le Redoutable not to make the top tiers of my list considering its creative reflexive methods in tackling Godard from seemingly every angle. BlackKklansman, while not one of my favorite films that happens to be a biopic, is one of the more interesting biopics by transforming the narrative into that of a self-aware artifice-infused Movie where things work out, only for the left hook to come in at the very end and shatter our nerves. Despite the playfulness in each there are enough factual narrative beats for both to qualify I believe, and these are prime examples of how you take what could be dry and make each film more alive with ideas than most straight fiction without focal points. I'd also put the most recent Scorsese on my list simply for using the vessel of an unreliable narrator dictating history, who has made his life in a protective shell of obliviousness, and sterilizing him of any identity, which is a great joke for a biopic and one that has universally existentially-disorienting implications for us all in a very sobering wake up call.

the Flowers of St Francis, The Wolf of Wall Street, Jackie, All the Present's Men, Mishima, and Zodiac would all make my list, though The Social Network would undoubtedly place first as the best meditation on how emotional subconscious shapes identity in our era of inescapable social comparison. I believe I've mentioned it somewhere on this forum, but the film functions for me like a more effective Citizen Kane with the most universal Rosebud finale that should strike a chord in anyone who is not immune to personalized nostalgia, and forces an especially raw and vulnerable self-awareness, with sensitive acknowledgement of our isolation and emotional needs for connection and personal validation, as we get swept up in our perceived microscopic significance in a busy world. This is an exhibition on ubiquitous social-emotional experience that is disguised as a biopic, used as a platform, and still the reigning champ at turning the specific into the panoramic.

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domino harvey
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Re: Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#178 Post by domino harvey » Sat Dec 23, 2023 12:51 pm

Le Tigre et le Président (Jean-Marc Peyrefitte 2022)
A frustrating marathon of bad ideas for what could have at any turn been a hilarious comedy. This is a fictionalized exploration of the short-lived French president Paul Deschanel, who served only for a few months before famously falling off a train (due to barbiturates) and resigning. As this is the only thing most people know about Deschanel, there's a lot of latitude here to have fun with the premise, but it's not exercised by the filmmakers, as the movie prefers low hanging, gentle comic notes with zero inspiration behind them. The film stars two great French actors, Jacques Gamblin as Deschanel and an unrecognizable Andre Dussollier as Deschanel's eternal sparring partner Clemenceau (with the very bad bald cap doing much of the heavy lifting). Every choice made in this movie after casting is wrong, though (and arguably even that is an L, because why cast Gamblin and Dussollier and then give them roles that could be played by Dany Boon?) The biggest obstacle is that it soon becomes clear that the film has no real side to pick here between Deschanel and Clemenceau and so any satiric barbs that occur are neutered by showing an equal amount of guff for the other side. The naive peaceful aims of Deschanel have obviously aged well to modern liberal audiences, but the real life circumstances were not as easy as just ignoring the Treaty of Versailles and thus evading WWII. But if you're going to elaborate on the history here and create wholecloth a lot of details for comic effect, why not go further create something funnier? I found myself in the unenviable position of rewriting the script in my head constantly and proposing 4 or 5 different ways to approach this material that would all be more interesting than the parade of low effort "Barbiturate addicts do be like that tho" imagery and goofy jokes built on broad performances and winking nods to the modern audience

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tenia
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Re: Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#179 Post by tenia » Sat Dec 23, 2023 1:06 pm

I can only ask : how did you stumble on a French comedy even French aren't looking for (it's been pretty much received here as an anodine instantly forgettable movie).

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domino harvey
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Re: Biopics List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#180 Post by domino harvey » Sat Dec 23, 2023 1:07 pm

Ha, fair question! I like the two leads and it sounded funny. Well, it wasn't!

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