Oppenheimer (5*)
Society of the Snow (4.5*)
Maestro (4.5*)
American Symphony (4*)
Nyad (3*)
Rustin (3*)
Golda (2*)
Napoleon (1.5*)
Flamin’ Hot (1.5*)
So you think you want to know more about real people – what happened to them and what makes them tick? Well, you might not get what you think you are getting – these biography films might be good entertainment, but some of them aren’t necessarily “biographies”. Nine films fit in this genre from the 2024 Oscars, although I can only recommend four of them.
2024’s Best Picture winner and one of my favorite movies of the year, was Oppenheimer. It is long, but gives what seems like an honest impression of a complicated man who is responsible for development of our atomic weapons. I liked it because of the way Nolan uses the film in subtle ways to portray complex physics – bouncing around in time and space the way atomic particles do. It may take two viewings to get everything out of this movie, but it’s worth it.
Maestro tells the complicated story of Leonard Bernstein and his complicated relationship with his wife. This film is actually much better than audiences have rated it. But I suspect the disappointing rating is because the subject, a conductor of symphony orchestra’s, is not exactly popular material right now. And we can’t know for sure whether events between Bernstein and his wife really happened as portrayed – that is one of the limitations of a biopic! But if viewed as a study in the emotional interplay between two people and how that affects their lives, then the film makes an intelligent contribution.
Biography usually implies a story about a particular person, so I’m not sure why Society of the Snow ends up in this category. This is gripping story of survival of a group of rugby players whose plane crashes high in the Andes. Some of them die and others survive by doing things that are difficult to understand unless you have to make your own life and death decisions. A very difficult but worthwhile film.
American Symphony is, actually, a documentary and succeeds because of how it simply observes. Much like Maestro, the story of Jon Batiste is also a story of his relationship with his wife and how hardship and challenge seem to strengthen their relationship as well as this man’s resilience.
The remaining five films don’t make my recommended list. Nyad tells the story of Dianna Nyad, her relationship with her best friend, and her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. There is some good acting by both Jodie Foster and Annette Bening, but the script and the direction are weak resulting in a story that never really gels. (Of course there is also the real question of whether she actually did the swim as the movie suggests.)
Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin, is the subject of Rustin. Rustin was a smart, gay, man who had complex relationships in the early years of the civil rights movement. My fault with this movie is the introduction of a totally fictional character, rather than explore the real relationships the man might have had. It seems to paint an inaccurate picture of the man, while purporting to give us a biography!
Golda attempts to give us an understanding of Golda Meir by focusing on her conduct of the Yom Kippur war between Israel and some Arab states in 1973. While maybe it was the exact point they were trying to make, their portrait of Meir fell flat and unsympathetic; it wasn’t engaging.
The last two movies, I don’t even suggest you even start to watch. Napoleon is, obviously, about the French emperor. But even in more than three hours, the filmmakers attempt to relate his military successes, and failures, to his relationship with Josephine does not really cut it. The story is poorly written and you can understand why Joaquin Phoenix (as Napoleon) ran around the set saying “I don’t know what to do!”
And our last movie of the year, Flamin’ Hot, supposedly relates how the Mexican janitor, Richard Montanez, invented a new flavor-line of products for Frito Lay and ended up leading the expanded marketing to the Hispanic community. Unfortunately, the movie is manipulative, works like a Hallmark Christmas movie and is, most likely, based on some false notions.
Four biography films from the 2023 Oscar list are worth watching. Elvis (4.5*) is how the King succeeded in bringing black music into the white world. It also is delightful to watch. Argentina, 1985 (3.5*) spins an, at times, lighthearted story of the prosecutor of the Argentine junta members responsible for ten of thousands of “disappeared”. It is difficult to tell how much of Blonde (3.5*) is real and how much is pure fiction as Anna de Armas does a great portrayal of Marilyn Monroe. And, of course, Navalny (3.5*) IS a true documentary of a great man who is no longer alive precisely because of some of the things he does in this film. (Note, my low rating is because I find it kind of weak as a film, although the subject is riveting.)
Although some of these films, as biopics, are guilty of making false and sometimes outlandish notions about their subjects, many of them succeed in giving us a better understanding of the lives and minds of real people.
