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?