Unconventional Biopics Streaming Now
Plus, the best of what's new to streaming in November and we review The French Dispatch
It can be hard to get biopics right, but when done well they can be informative, insightful, and powerful cinematic experiences. Spencer, out in theaters this weekend, tells a chapter in the life of Princess Diana (played by Kristen Stewart) as only director Pablo Larrain can. We were fans of his 2016 Jackie Kennedy biopic Jackie with Natalie Portman, so consider us intrigued by Spencer.
For today’s newsletter, we tried to pick biopics that went in a more unconventional direction, much like Larrain’s films. Check out our recommendations and then see what’s new to streaming in November, as well as our mini-reviews for The French Dispatch and The Harder They Fall.
Billy recommends…
Behind the Candelabra (streaming on HBO)
Steven Soderbergh’s last movie before retirement. Oh wait… I’m not in 2013 anymore. At the time I thought this was going to potentially be Soderbergh’s final film and him devoting his time to create a biopic about Liberace was confusing. He is a figure and talent I have no history with. Plus this was an HBO Original movie and at the time, in my mind, that meant it would be of lesser quality.
Our chronicle of Liberace’s (Michael Douglas) life is seen through the eyes of his younger lover Scott Thorsom (Matt Damon). A young teenage Scott meets Liberace and immediately becomes his main muse. There is clear infatuation from both sides, but both come from completely lonely motivations. Liberace can’t live out a public life with a man without losing the empire he has built while Scott is a wide-eyed young kid not privy to the ways he may be being manipulated.
Their relationship was solely a vice for Liberace to have a lover, son-like figure, and secret companion all at the same time. Douglas is absolutely magnificent in this role. At every moment you see the loneliness from having to live a closeted lifestyle mixed with being one of the biggest stars on earth. All his extravagance played into an image that had already taken its roots. Any deviation from that was a threat and Scott dealt with a lot of the fall out.
Soderbergh fosters two brilliant performances that have a wonderful buoyancy to them. They are cheerful in the midst of loneliness and the extravagant lifestyle brings a sense of wonder to the audience, making the manipulation all that more tragic when it happens. Through all that, though, there is enough positive during their life together that allows the rushed ending to have a serious amount of heart.
I, Tonya (streaming on Hulu)
This is a re-post from a July 2019 newsletter
There are few actresses who came on to the scene as abruptly as Margot Robbie. It helps that you are in a Martin Scorsese movie in your first major role and act circles around some of the best actors in the world. Thankfully that performance opened up many opportunities for her and her best performance is in I, Tonya. She plays Olympian Tonya Harding who famously had a mob hit arranged for her competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Or did she?
Robbie plays such a complicated character. She hits all the endearing and sadistic notes that Harding had in her real life. Ruthlessly competitive, but an incredibly magnetic personality. In real life, Robbie has the look of someone who is made for figure skating. Which is why I thought she would not be able to pull off this role. Harding’s edge was that she wasn’t the prototypical figure skater. Robbie proves me wrong with one of the best performances I’ve seen this decade. She gives doubt to a once clear story and creates empathy for a woman who is seen as villainous. An incredibly impressive feat from such a young actress.
Drew recommends…
Steve Jobs (streaming on Netflix)
How do you tackle the life of one of the most important figures of the last few decades in just a single film? You could go the cradle-to-grave route, a conventional Hollywood story structure that tries to cover an entire momentous life in two hours, often letting key pieces slip between the cracks and moving too fast to leave much of an impact. The team behind 2015’s Steve Jobs had a different idea. Based on Walter Isaacson’s biography, Aaron Sorkin made the smart decision to assemble his screenplay around three of Jobs’ product launches.
This key choice makes Steve Jobs better than your average biopic, because instead of trying to cram someone’s life story into a movie, we get an intimate and entertaining portrait of Jobs (Michael Fassbender) in three different stages of his professional life: the launch of the first Macintosh in 1984, his NeXT Computer model after he’d been fired by Apple, and the 1998 introduction of the iMac. Amid these high-stakes moments, Sorkin anchors the emotion in Jobs’ fraught relationship with his daughter Lisa.
Much like the Apple products Jobs created, Steve Jobs is an elegant, intelligent, and minimalist film, almost to a fault. Director Danny Boyle, mostly known for kinetic thrillers like 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, imbues Sorkin’s script with just enough pacing and movement so that things don’t get too stale. But it's the performances that stand out the most here. Fassbender doesn’t look all that much like Steve Jobs, but he displays the man’s fierce intelligence and prickly demeanor really well. Seth Rogen flashes some dramatic range as Steve Wozniak and the great Kate Winslet brings depth to Joanna Hoffman, Apple marketing exec and Jobs’ right hand-woman in the film.
Did these events and conversations really happen in real life as they are presented in Steve Jobs? Of course not, even Aaron Sorkin would acknowledge that. But by slicing up the Steve Jobs biography into three parts, this biopic sets itself apart from lesser movies that try to bite off more than they can chew.
Malcolm X (streaming on HBO Max)
This is a re-post from a June 2020 newsletter
So many biopics of important historical figures go the predictable, unimaginative, lifeless route. None of those qualities would accurately describe a Spike Lee film, so of course his biopic of Malcolm X is something different.
Malcolm X is educational and informative, to be sure, but first and foremost, it’s well-crafted entertainment. Fair warning: this movie is 3 hours and 21 minutes long. But it doesn’t necessarily feel that long because of Spike and Denzel Washington, who plays the famous civil rights activist. The two team up to make Malcolm X into an engrossing 201 minutes.
The film essentially shows us Malcolm X’s path from childhood to his shocking assassination in 1965. We see his early days as a small-time gangster, his imprisonment and conversion to the Nation of Islam, then his falling out with the organization followed by his pilgrimage to Mecca and his changing views on race relations. Denzel is asked to utilize his boundless charisma and talent to carry this movie from start to finish, appearing in almost every scene. Not many actors, if any, can pull that off like Denzel can.
Spike sidesteps many conventional biopic issues and presents Malcolm X as a complex, evolving human being. He’s not afraid to lay out the good and the bad of the man in an unvarnished manner.
New To Streaming In November 2021
Netflix
21 Jump Street
American Gangster
It Follows
Moneyball
Amazon Prime
Alien
Cast Away
Children of Men
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Dead Poets Society
Fantastic Mr. Fox
It’s Complicated
Jane Eyre
Mrs. Doubtfire
Rushmore
Snatch
Hulu
Borat
Boyz n the Hood
Fargo
I, Tonya
Inception
The Matrix trilogy
Michael Clayton
Minority Report
Never Been Kissed
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Prestige
Rush Hour trilogy
Sleepless in Seattle
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Deadpool (November 15)
The Master (November 16)
Pig (November 26)
HBO and HBO Max
Caddyshack
A Clockwork Orange
Eyes Wide Shut
Full Metal Jacket
Moonstruck
Practical Magic
Pride & Prejudice
Rush
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Legacy
The Purge
The Queen
Thelma & Louise
Inside Man (November 26)
Recent Release Mini-Reviews
The French Dispatch (in theaters now)
Billy: Not sure if I loved it or it was the perfect palette cleanser after seeing The Last Duel, No Time to Die, and Dune. Regardless, steal my heart Jeffrey Wright and Steve Park. - 4 / 5 Apples
Drew: When every new Wes Anderson film comes out, you’ll hear many claim this one is “the most Wes Anderson movie yet.” Well, this time they might actually be right. The French Dispatch is Anderson at his most visually adventurous with perhaps his most ridiculously loaded cast. It’s brisk and dense, with undeniable virtuosity, but due to the short story structure, I wasn’t able to hook into the story or characters like I usually do with Anderson films.
As someone that’s always been in the tank for his vision and style, I still enjoyed The French Dispatch quite a bit moment-to-moment and scene-to-scene. There are plenty of his signature meticulous compositions, wry sense of humor, and eccentric character work to adore and revel in here. It’s just the emotional component, so prevalent in most of his films, that was missing in this one. Still, even minor Wes Anderson is an event to be celebrated. - 3.5 / 5 Apples
The Harder They Fall (streaming on Netflix)
Billy: That banger of a beginning and stacked cast carried me all the way to the flat ending. Amazing needle drops, Western setting, and some of the best stars should work all the way through. Here it just doesn’t. I’m convinced Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with Idris Elba. They keep trying to use him like the shark from Jaws, hinting at his menacing and powerful presence while never allowing him to shine fully. Despite my reservations this is a movie I want everyone to see. - 3 / 5 Apples
Drew: The Harder They Fall was produced by Jay-Z and Quentin Tarantino’s producing partner (Lawrence Bender) which makes total sense because this slick and heavily stylized Western clearly looks to these two figures as major influences. Although the writing is often too conventional, the stellar all-Black cast takes us on a fresh and fun ride. I can promise you won’t have a bad time. - 3 / 5 Apples