Elvis (2022) and the Utter Mediocrity of Biopics

Comments · 2.1K

• BR

  @BroeyDeschanel · 4 years ago · pinned

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• JW

  @jwm1444 · 4 years ago

  Imagine a scene where Elvis is trying to convince Nixon to allow him to legally carry drugs around at all times, we got robbed.

  5K

• ME

  @merzpat · 4 years ago

  This movie works incredibly as a parody of Hollywood biopics. &nbsp;The bombastic over-editing and gauche montages that shuffle us through the story skip past any and all possible nuance or explanation. &nbsp;The lifeless characters are paraded in front of us and posed next to seemingly important events, both personal and historical, and yet none of them, Elvis included, are explored with any depth. &nbsp;It is a stunning example of movie surface, of empty style and kinetic frenzy signifying nothing but its own flashy, gaudy frames. &nbsp;In some ways, it seems as if it was made in direct opposition to the purposes of biography.

  4K

• TR

  @trinaq · 4 years ago

  The thing about most biopics, particularly those centred around musicians, is that they tend to be incredibly formulaic. They usually start out with the protagonist as a child, fleshing out their childhoods and usually antagonistic relationships with their parents. Then, they enter into abusive or messy relationships, substance abuse issues, and it either ends with their tragic death, or a hopeful ending.

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• KA

  @katarzynaszajkowski8394 · 3 years ago

  I, Tonya was FABULOUS imo -- it had such a clear, artistic POV from the beginning (allowed by the framing of Tonya as a semi-unreliable narrator and the nature of the mystery surrounding the Nancy Kerrigan situation) that it really worked.

  1.6K

• PA

  @pavlabln · 3 years ago (edited)

  What I also don&apos;t like about biopics of male artists are the women in the movies. Often they&apos;re reduced to being passive supporters or jealous wives. When the artist in question had an affair, the other woman is depicted as a manic pixie dream girl, a muse for the artist. In contrast his wife at home is depicted as boring, jealous and someone who cares &quot;too much&quot; about the financial situation of the family and doesn&apos;t truly understand the artist&apos;s vision. Examples for this are &quot;Control&quot; (movie about Ian Curtis of Joy Division, which I really like apart from this trope) or &quot;Walk The Line&quot; about Johnny Cash.

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• CA

  @cameron3121 · 4 years ago

  I think one reason why the social network is so good comes from the fact that none of the actors are trying to replicate the real people they&apos;re portraying. nobody is excessively made over or costumed to be a carbon copy of their real life counterpart, and the performances come from a place of genuine creative innovation rather than imitation. Jesse eisenbergs mannerisms in character aren&apos;t especially similar to mark Zuckerberg in real life, same for all the other characters. of course there&apos;s other reasons the film is so good, but I think not caring about imitating or replicating the people the film was based on, and preferring to interpret them as suits the film, is a big contributing factor

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• FU

  @futuresailor266 · 4 years ago

  Remake, biopic, sequel, repeat...

  200

• QU

  @QualityCulture · 4 years ago (edited)

  I think the trap a lot of biopics fall into is just replicating famous moments and loosely tying them together with thin narrative threads. The best of this genre usually are the little moments that we hardly knew about. But at the heart of it, I think they all just kind of feel toothless in that its always just a minimally critical look at someone without really reflecting the nuanced context of their importance to the culture surrounding them.<br>-Terrence

  1.5K

• LE

  @lelandunruh7896 · 3 years ago

  When I learnt that Colonel Tom Parker was Dutch and an illegal alien I genuinely laughed out loud. From reading about Elvis I always assumed Parker was from Kentucky or Tennessee or somewhere like that; the fact that his real name was Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk and that he just stole his name from a soldier he met when he joined the army will never stop being wonderfully funny and odd to me.

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• JU

  @justmeh3000 · 3 years ago

  Honestly I don’t know if you watched it, but Rocketman is absolutely my favorite biopic. It is big, extravagant flashes out Elton completely. The musical style fits so well to Elton his entire self and career. The visuals are stunning, the acting everywhere is suburb. It truly shows the highs and lows in such an amazing and creative way. The cinematography and Colors are vibrant and dynamic. And Taron nails Elton. Also Elton was actually involved in the film. And he’s not dead…

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• DR

  @DreazyBK · 4 years ago

  Honestly, Patrick H. Willems gave the single best review of Elvis: Congrats to Baz Luhrmann for making the world&apos;s first two and a half hour movie trailer

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