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Biopics
The last few years have seen a surge of biography movies, more commonly known as biopics. With an exception of a few films, most biopics can be made on a relatively low budget and are often produced and distributed by independent film companies. Putting all of these elements together makes for a perfect indie subgenre that’s the center of this week’s “Indieties”.
The list of biopics is almost endless. Going as far back as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Mommie Dearest to this year’s Oscar nominees, Milk and Frost/Nixon, biopics have been grabbing audience’s attention for years now, with more on the way. We’ve also seen movies such as Hotel Rwanda, Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby, I’m Not There, Walk the Line, Persepolis and Good Night, and Good Luck be nominated, and even sometimes win, Oscars in years past.
Even some of Hollywood’s most well-known filmmakers have a list of biopics under their belts, Oliver Stone being the most celebrated with films such as Nixon, World Trade Center, Born of the Fourth of July, The Doors, Alexander and most recently W. Whether or not you think his biopics are truthful is one story, but there’s no doubt that he has some experience in making them.
While some of the more mainstream biopics are great, I have a soft spot for the indie ones, some of my favorites being Bobby, Party Monster and The Basketball Diaries.
As much as the trailer for Bobby, about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, appealed to me, there was something about it that seemed off. It could have been the mishmash of a cast, which includes everyone from Lindsay Lohan, Nick Cannon, Elijah Wood, William H. Macy and Anthony Hopkins, or the fact that schlocktastic actor Emilio Estevez had written and directed the film. However, much to my dismay, the film was incredible. The pacing was fantastic the script well-written and suspenseful and Estevez showed that he could turn even the most amateur actor into a great, sympathetic character. I can’t wait to see more from him.
Party Monster is on the opposite end of the indie spectrum. The way I found out about the film was completely opposite from the others as well. While channel surfing one day, I came across an interesting story about a former Club Kid (which is essentially a raver) named Michael Alig who had brutally murdered his drug dealer while high to avoid paying him. When I found out there was a fictional depiction of Alig’s story starring Macaulay Culkin (who is a dead ringer for Alig), I watched it and fell sadistically in love. The performances were amazing, especially from Culkin and Seth Green, and it had the perfect balance of elements of the fantastic (with the Club Kid themes) and the realistic (the murder itself).
After watching Leonardo DiCaprio on TV for years, I had an idea that he was going to stick around for a while, but it wasn’t until I watched The Basketball Diaries with my parents in my pre-teen years that I realized how great he was going to be. Based on an autobiographical novel by DiCaprio’s character, Jim Carroll, The Basketball Diaries centers on growing up in New York, having dreams and getting them crushed and growing up way too fast. Watching DiCaprio in especially sensitive scenes, most of when his character is high, is hard to watch (especially at a young age), but it’s effective. This remains to be one of my favorite coming-of-age films.
So, now that I’ve told you all of my favorites, which are yours?
The list of biopics is almost endless. Going as far back as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Mommie Dearest to this year’s Oscar nominees, Milk and Frost/Nixon, biopics have been grabbing audience’s attention for years now, with more on the way. We’ve also seen movies such as Hotel Rwanda, Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby, I’m Not There, Walk the Line, Persepolis and Good Night, and Good Luck be nominated, and even sometimes win, Oscars in years past.
Even some of Hollywood’s most well-known filmmakers have a list of biopics under their belts, Oliver Stone being the most celebrated with films such as Nixon, World Trade Center, Born of the Fourth of July, The Doors, Alexander and most recently W. Whether or not you think his biopics are truthful is one story, but there’s no doubt that he has some experience in making them.
While some of the more mainstream biopics are great, I have a soft spot for the indie ones, some of my favorites being Bobby, Party Monster and The Basketball Diaries.
As much as the trailer for Bobby, about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, appealed to me, there was something about it that seemed off. It could have been the mishmash of a cast, which includes everyone from Lindsay Lohan, Nick Cannon, Elijah Wood, William H. Macy and Anthony Hopkins, or the fact that schlocktastic actor Emilio Estevez had written and directed the film. However, much to my dismay, the film was incredible. The pacing was fantastic the script well-written and suspenseful and Estevez showed that he could turn even the most amateur actor into a great, sympathetic character. I can’t wait to see more from him.
Party Monster is on the opposite end of the indie spectrum. The way I found out about the film was completely opposite from the others as well. While channel surfing one day, I came across an interesting story about a former Club Kid (which is essentially a raver) named Michael Alig who had brutally murdered his drug dealer while high to avoid paying him. When I found out there was a fictional depiction of Alig’s story starring Macaulay Culkin (who is a dead ringer for Alig), I watched it and fell sadistically in love. The performances were amazing, especially from Culkin and Seth Green, and it had the perfect balance of elements of the fantastic (with the Club Kid themes) and the realistic (the murder itself).
After watching Leonardo DiCaprio on TV for years, I had an idea that he was going to stick around for a while, but it wasn’t until I watched The Basketball Diaries with my parents in my pre-teen years that I realized how great he was going to be. Based on an autobiographical novel by DiCaprio’s character, Jim Carroll, The Basketball Diaries centers on growing up in New York, having dreams and getting them crushed and growing up way too fast. Watching DiCaprio in especially sensitive scenes, most of when his character is high, is hard to watch (especially at a young age), but it’s effective. This remains to be one of my favorite coming-of-age films.
So, now that I’ve told you all of my favorites, which are yours?
Add a Comment
21 Comments
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Comment by Chaken on July 4, 2009 at 3:43pm -
Bobby was soo stupid. it had nothing to do w/ Robert F. Kennedy even though it was named after him.
just a bunch of stupid Hollywood A-Lister's trying to cash in on the death of kind man.
and they gave the most emotional character to nick cannon, thats some great directing right there.
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Comment by Jessica on July 2, 2009 at 4:21am - You know, I didn't HATE W. but it definitely wasn't at the level of the biopics discussed here. It showed Bush (at least in the film) that he just wanted to make his dad happy and do something right but never seemed to have the capability to do so. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a film I put off for a very long time and it was my cowboy Paul Newman film, and boy did I fall in ruuuuve! As for The Wrestler, it wasn't bad but yeah I think I had higher expectations after all the hype surrounding it and as a result it was a bit of a letdown. Mickey Rourke was good and sympathetic at moments, but it didn't exactly pop like others did for me. I do think it deserved the Oscar nominations it received though.
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Comment by BeatingTakeshi on July 1, 2009 at 11:55pm - Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story!!!
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Comment by jurhead on July 1, 2009 at 8:59pm - Charlie Wilson's War and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are probably my two favorites.
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Comment by Zeek Slider on July 1, 2009 at 8:09pm - There was one movie about Bruce Lee that I came across on HBO once, but I never found out the title or who the lead actor was. I want to say it was the kid Disney hired for the live action Jungle Book, but I'm not sure if it is him or not.
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Comment by Gabriel on July 1, 2009 at 6:01pm - I liked Milk it was brilliantly told. Frost/Nixon was also great too. I hated W. though, it was dull and meaningless and I wanted to like it, but couldn't.
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Comment by hewylewis on July 1, 2009 at 3:57pm
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my favorite biopic!
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Comment by Andrew on July 1, 2009 at 2:41pm - Where the Buffalo Roam is great! Was anyone else a little disappointed with Aronofsky's The Wrestler? I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I went into it, coming from the guy who did Requiem and Pi, but to say the least I was not entertained.
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Comment by Fungusmonkey on July 1, 2009 at 2:06pm -
I can't believe that Hoosiers didn't make this article (even though it's "loosely" based).
IMHO - Biopics usually hit home because people love seeing every day men & women rise up in the face of adversity. Film is storytelling, and biopics are our own modern-day mythology. The greeks had Perseus, we have Ray Charles.
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Comment by Jessica on July 1, 2009 at 1:53pm
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Ray was magnificient, it made me feel so many emotions and I'm glad Jaime Foxx got that Oscar. Good Night and Good Luck had excellent directing from Clooney and David Strathairn was great, I'm the only one of my friends who really liked that and actually I accidentally snuck in past the box office and got in for free, haha. Milk and Frost/Nixon were both such intense films that carried me all the way through, the directing and acting and script together just made it so great.
I don't think I understood I'm Not There well enough, I understand what it was trying to do and I love Dylan and the portrayals of "him" were great, but a maybe it was a bit too experimental-ish for me.
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