Biopics can be a hard type of film to make, specifically in
the writing department. Often, the idea
to make a film about some famous person requires molding their real-life
experiences into some sort of cohesive narrative, when in actuality real-life
events often aren’t so easily encapsulated in a two-hour film. That isn’t to say that it can’t be done, as
there have been plenty of great biopics, but that seems to be the inherent
difficulty that Get On Up never
manages to overcome. The life of James
Brown is rife with drama and conflict, but this film seems to try and force its
audience to accept one narrative of Brown’s troubled life while obligingly only
mentioning some of the things that may have had the biggest impact on him. On top of that, the narrative the film is
trying to convey seems confused on whether it wants to glorify James Brown’s
greatness or act as an excuse for his less reputable behavior.
The film’s biggest stumbling blocks seem to come from its
insistence on telling the story achronistically, shifting between points in
Brown’s adult life to his childhood with little-to-no transition, operating
under the illusion of artistry. As the
narrative becomes more chronological as the film goes on, it starts to become
clear that the film is trying to use those moments to demonstrate that James
Brown acts out because of his childhood abandonment issues and he never had the
chance to fully mature as an adult.
However, the film fails to connect those dots until a scene at the very
end, leaving every transition a disjointed mess that only becomes coherent
through analysis of the screenwriters’ intentions, which makes for some sloppy
writing.
The narrative also quite casually brushes over key aspects
of James Brown’s life in order to keep on track with its own confused story,
all but ignoring Brown’s tendency toward domestic violence (with the exceptions
quickly forgotten amongst all the hero worship), the death of his son, and,
perhaps most important, his persistent and chronic drug habits, all of which
were likely causes of his controlling and egomaniacal behavior. When the film ignores those factors, Brown’s
character seems to lash out at people for no reason other than being an
asshole, making the parts where the film tries to justify him as a creative
genius feel all the more disingenuous.
To give credit where credit is due, Chadwick Boseman pulls
off a masterful James Brown impression, and he manages to make some of the
film’s more dramatic scenes really pull together. However, no matter how well that performance
or those scenes work in isolation, the connecting tissue of this film is thin,
flimsy, and confusingly compiled. Get On Up is not worth your time, even
if you are a fan of the Godfather of Funk.
James Brown. How do
you feel about the man? The music? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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