My Problem With Biopics: Too Much and Too Little At The Same Time
Biopics have been in the spotlight for a while now. Is it good news, or is the genre losing its spark?
Biopics are not something new. They have been around for almost as long as the industry has existed. Nevertheless, the last eight or ten years have brought a sort of obsession with these kinds of projects.
In a creatively bankrupt entertainment industry, studios seem to find in biopics a lucrative alternative to originality. The formula is simple: you select someone who is recognizable by the public and cherry-pick through the most salable moments of their life and/or career. Complement that with some talented performers and an aggressive marketing campaign, and there you have it. There is no need to create a single thing from scratch.
Within the biopics, we now have subgenres that focus on different types of people. The criminals are quite popular (especially for Netflix series), but there are also the sportspeople, the actors, the historical figures, and the culturally relevant celebrities. However, one quite popular in these past years is the musician subgenre.
The Genre That Keeps on Giving
Since 2018 we’ve had Rocketman about Elton John, Bohemian Rhapsody about Freddy Mercury, Elvis about Elvis Presley, I Wanna Dance With Somebody about Whitney Houston, Judy about Judy Garland, and Back to Black about Amy Winehouse. I’m probably missing some, because this trend has extended to TV series as well. And what is more, this year we’re getting Michael Jackson’s biopic.
Of course, 2024 was not an exception to the trend. In just the past months, two biopics have been released and are part of the award season. The first is James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, whose subject is Bob Dylan, and Palo Larrain’s Maria, which focuses on opera singer Maria Callas. Let’s talk about them.
A Complete Unknown
Director James Mangold brings us the story of one young Bob Dylan as he makes his way into the New York folk scene of the 1960s. The movie was based on the book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald, portraying the singer’s early steps in the music industry and the subsequent controversy regarding his use of electric instruments. In some capacity, the project deals with the difficulties artists have to keep their commercial success and popularity while remaining true to who they are and retaining artistic freedom.
The production design is so good it gives you the illusion that you’re actually living in the 60s for a little while, all with great musical moments that you can enjoy even if you are not a Bob Dylan fan.
Some of the most relevant people on the folk scene of the time are part of the story, with some excellent casting choices. We have Edward Norton as Peete Seeger, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, and Dan Fogler as manager Albert Grossman, among others.
And of course, Timothée Chalamet in the leading role, with a performance worthy of the Oscar nomination he has received. My problem with this guy is not his acting skills, but the fact that I’m tired of seeing him in everything. It’s either him or Zendaya; it’s impossible to escape them. Two weeks ago I watched the re-release of Interstellar in the theater, and he was there too! Seriously, Timothée needs a year off.
Maria
Maria is the conclusion of a trilogy of important 20th-century women Pablo Larraín started with Jackie in 2016. It covers the last week of life of opera singer Maria Callas as she tries to sing again after years away from the stage.
Throughout the movie, we see the protagonist being interviewed by a young filmmaker named “Mandrax”. This person is just a hallucination caused by Maria’s abuse of various medications, but it’s key to the storytelling. Attentively followed by Mandrax and his cameraman, Maria reminisces about her career and personal life.
Those moments are intertwined with flashbacks of her old performances, her present life with a rapidly declining health, and her frustration with the resumed singing lessons.
Besides the visually pleasing cinematography and Angelina Jolie’s great performance in the title role, Maria is, in my opinion, nothing to write home about.
Who Are These People?
The irony is that, despite these biopics crowding our screens and claiming to reveal our favorite artist’s inner world, nine times out of ten the real information we get from the projects is remarkably little. That is the main reason I stopped caring about biopics altogether.
In current times, the success of artists can be tracked by the visibility of their posts in social media, or how many of their songs can become a TikTok trend. But the old school singers, the ones that left a mark on entire generations, did not have that. Figuring out the exact combination of inherent talents and life experiences that turned them into legends has always been a source of fascination for the average person.
If a biopic cannot offer you a taste of that, then what is the point of watching it?
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis
A good example would be Elvis, my most anticipated film of 2022, which I remember watching on the opening weekend. It was a visual spectacle; Austin Butler’s performance was impressive, but I learned next to nothing about Elvis himself. The movie let us see little fragments of his life, from his childhood to his last years, but makes no effort to deepen our understanding of who he was as a person. His relationship with the rest of the characters is poorly developed.
I had a fun time watching it. I love Elvis’ music, and in some way the film was a two and a half hour concert. But would I ever watch it again? I doubt it. I even think that if I had watched it at home, I would not have enjoyed it.
And that is my point: these films have become just a spectacle. Far from being made to show respect and honor an artist’s legacy, the purpose seems to be exploiting these people’s personal sufferings in an attempt to appeal to the audience’s morbid curiosity. The casting choices in these projects are in most cases carefully selected, so they can carry the whole thing over their shoulders and compensate for any other criticism.
That’s the case with Elvis. But almost every time one biopic comes out, there are complaints. From the top of my head, I can name Blonde, a film about Marilyn Monroe that was very controversial back in 2022. Or Back to Black last year.
A Slight Improvement?
Going back to today’s selection, I must admit that neither A Complete Unknown nor Maria represent the absolute worst in the genre. In fact, you can see from my short review of the first that I actually enjoyed the film. However, my point stands: I did not learn much about Bob Dylan, and I enjoyed myself because the music sounded great. In this particular case, we can highlight that Mangold had a clear vision of what he wanted to say and chose to focus on a specific period of Dylan’s life. Which is a much better approach to take. One way or another, I do not feel like I would watch it again.
Maria is even weaker. The problems and sorrows of the protagonist, and what led her to that point in her life, are superficially explained. The back and forth between the flashbacks and the present were not helpful either. But altogether, it is an acceptable movie.
Maybe the crux of the matter with this genre is that, just like with Timothée Chalamet, we are seeing too much of it. Just like the sequels, and the prequels, and the reboots, biopics need to take a break. Audiences are ready for new things. We’ll have to wait and see if Hollywood is capable of keeping up.
