Let’s Talk About Biopics
Biopics account for seven of the 27 live action feature films that were nominated for Oscars.
Welcome to the sixth edition of The Martell 100 newsletter. We’ll begin today with a discussion about biopics. A bit lower, you’ll find the other movies I’ve watched over the past four weeks, along with my thoughts on some of them.
Last week, my friend Jesse and I attended a screening of Paul Schrader’s 1988 film, Patty Hearst, which was followed by a Q&A with Schrader. The movie is a biopic of Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, and tells the story of how, in 1974, she was kidnapped by the far-left militant group, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and ended up joining their cause.
This is one of the few Schrader films with a woman as its main character, though, oddly enough, Patty Hearst, as played by Natasha Richardson, actually fits into the cinematic universe of Schrader’s Lonely Men. Just as we would hear the words of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Oscar Issac’s William Tell in The Card Counter as they write in their diary, we hear the thoughts of Patty spoken as narration and we come to understand how she is experiencing what is happening to her. Despite his fortune, her father, Randolph A. Hearst, will not pay the ransom money to set her free, leaving her alone to fend for herself. In captivity, she is raped and brainwashed, and either as a means of survival or because she is no longer capable of thinking for herself, she becomes a member of the SLA and goes with them as they commit crimes against “Fascist America.”
I really liked this movie, but I wouldn’t have used it as the jumping off point for a newsletter edition if not for something that Schrader said after the movie in response to a question about his portrayal of the SLA. He said the SLA members were not true revolutionaries but terrorists. In order to be a revolutionary, Schrader said, an individual or group would need to be working to bring about an actual revolution, and kidnapping an innocent heiress was never going to do that. Schrader clearly believes that Patty was innocent of any crimes she committed with the SLA — because she could not be held responsible for her actions due to the trauma she endured — but he doesn’t spoon feed us with grand statements about power dynamics, mental health and faux revolutions. Instead, he presents the story from Patty’s perspective, and it’s only in the end when she finds her voice that he more directly addresses the themes of the movie.
After leaving the theater, I thought more about what makes successful biopics. For starters, they need to tell a compelling story. Typically, that involves dynamic filmmaking, smart dialogue and immersive settings. They also need strong lead performances that transcend imitation and capture the essence of the characters. Here, I think of Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (No. 42 on the Martell 100) and Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (No. 63… for now), two of the best performances in two of the best biopics ever made.
Great biopics also need to have a purpose that cannot be summed up with a tired thesis such as, “This person is important because…” or “We really should be remembering this person because…” This is the reason why so many music biopics don’t work for me. Why watch Bohemian Rhapsody when I just could listen to Queen songs for two hours? The music tells me more about Freddie Mercury’s greatness than Rami Malek wearing fake teeth ever could.
I like biopics that are about more than just a person’s life. Martin Scorsese does this as well as anybody in his biopics. The Wolf of Wall Street (No. 15) is about the fetishization of wealth. Raging Bull is a story of self-destruction and toxic masculinity. Among its other themes, The Irishman (No. 55) poses questions about how we rationalize our actions and how we live with the decisions we make. Scorsese is interested in Jordan Belfort, Jake LaMotta and Frank Sheeran only because of what their lives say about our own.
Seven of the 27 live action films that received Oscar nominations this year, or just over 25% of them, were biopics. Two of those biopics — Oppenheimer and Maestro — were nominated for Best Picture. Oppenheimer, which is almost certainly going to win that award, is my second-favorite movie of 2023 and currently sits at No. 49 on my most recent Martell 100 rankings. Maestro is not in my top 10 of the year, but it is an ambitious and well-made movie that is worthy of praise, even though I’m not entirely sure what director Bradley Cooper is trying to tell us about Leonard Bernstein. The other five Oscar-nominated biopics are below:
Napoleon
Despite deserving its three nominations — for visual effects, production design and costume design — this is a disappointingly chaotic movie that has some fun moments and epic battle sequences. It feels both too long, in that it is 2 hours and 38 minutes, and too short, because it attempts to squeeze so much of Napoleon’s life into its runtime and ends up feeling more like an overview of plot points than a cinematic experience. As always seems to be the case, Ridley Scott supposedly has a four-hour director’s cut of this film that he wants to release at some point. If he does, hopefully that version will satisfyingly fill in the gaps rather than expand upon the mess of the theatrical version.
Nyad and Rustin
These two movies are fitting examples of what is wrong with the genre. They are bland awards fodder that tell the story of historical figures who overcome adversity to achieve greatness and/or change the world for the better. They are meant to inspire, but end up being nothing more than vehicles for their stars to do a lot of ACTING. So, naturally, the acting categories are where these two biopics were recognized: Annette Bening (Best Actress) and Jodie Foster (Best Supporting Actress) for Nyad, and Coleman Domingo (Best Actor) for Rustin. All three actors give strong performances, though I don’t think any of them should have been nominated this year.
Bening and Foster are always great, and without them, Nyad would be nothing more than a solid made-for-TV movie. That said, neither performance ranks among the top 10 in either of their iconic careers. The Academy could and should have nominated any of the following actors (and, I say actor, not actress, because the word actress is nonsensical) instead of Bening: Margot Robbie for Barbie, Greta Lee for Past Lives, Natalie Portman for May December, and though she never had a chance, Jennifer Lawrence for her fearless performance in the raunchy comedy No Hard Feelings. Robbie was the most obvious snub here. I would have gone with her over Bening and Lee over Carey Mulligan, who was nominated for Maestro. In place of Foster, I would have nominated Penélope Cruz for her performance in a far superior biopic, Michael Mann’s Ferrari.
Domingo might be the only thing that’s watchable in Rustin, though his performance is much more than just watchable. This is what I texted two of my friends shortly after I finished the movie: “So guys… I actually liked Rustin quite a bit!” To be clear, Rustin is a bad movie, which I realized as I thought more about it, but Domingo was good enough that he made me question whether the movie was better than it actually is. Still, that doesn’t mean he was worthy of a nomination in a year that was loaded with excellent lead acting performances in far better movies, namely Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon; Andrew Scott in All of Us Strangers; Zac Efron in The Iron Claw, another (really good!) biopic; and Adam Driver in Ferrari. I’d also like to shout out Joaquin Phoenix for his role in Ari Aster’s batshit surrealistic odyssey, Beau Is Afraid, because that is a much better movie than Rustin. However, it’s hard to say that Phoenix should have been nominated over Domingo, because Domingo’s performance is much more Oscar-y than whatever the heck Phoenix was doing in Beau.
Golda and Flamin’ Hot
I did not see either of these movies. I don’t think I know anybody who has seem them. If you have, please let me know what you thought and I will include your review in an upcoming newsletter.
Golda, a biopic of Israel’s former prime minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) set during the Yom Kippur War, was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, presumably for making Mirren in the movie poster look not dissimilar to Al Pacino in House of Gucci (another biopic!). Flamin’ Hot, about the janitor who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, received its only nomination for Best Original Song. The tune is called “The Fire Inside.” If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because it has zero cultural relevance. I completely forgot that it existed until I looked up the nominations in preparation for writing this newsletter. It’s not a good song.
Here is my movie diary of the 16 movies I’ve over the past four weeks, from January 29 to February 24. The synopses are courtesy of IMDb and Letterboxd.
Ishtar (1987)
Director: Elaine May
Cast: Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Adjani
Watched: January 29 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the C.I.A., the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.
Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu and Google Play.
Ishtar still has the reputation for being a colossal failure, though over the years some people have recognized it as the smart, funny satire that I experienced when I finally saw it.
Lawless Valley (1938)
Director: David Howard
Cast: George O’Brien, Kay Sutton, Walter Miller
Watched: February 1 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: After doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, a cowboy tries to find the men who framed him.
Where to Watch: Don’t.
This movie isn’t supposed to be good — so at least it succeeds at something.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz
Rewatched: February 2 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Max with a subscription.
I love Gangs of New York more every time I watch it. A true historical epic with plenty of ideas about where we have come from, what we have learned from our past and how much we still have left to learn from it.
This is the movie that got me into movies, the first film for adults that stuck. It opened up a world to me that I could never have imagined and that I have still barely explored.
Malcolm X (1992)
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall
Rewatched: February 3 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Lower Manhattan
Synopsis: Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Max with a subscription.
Maybe the greatest biopic ever made? Definitely the greatest performance by an actor in biopic.
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Ed Begley
Watched: February 4 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: In need of quick money, a fallen former cop recruits a hard-bitten ex-con and a debt-ridden nightclub singer to pull off a bank job. But as the animosity between them boils over, the entire plan threatens to implode.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Pluto TV (with ads).
Notorious (1946)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
Watched: February 6 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: The daughter of a convicted Nazi spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of Nazi scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Tubi TV (with ads).
Rustin (2023)
Director: George C. Wolfe
Cast: Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Glynn Turman
Watched: February 8 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Netflix with a subscription.
Dune (2021)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac
Watched: February 9 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn
Synopsis: A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Netflix and Max with a subscription.
The Conversation (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield
Watched: February 11 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Netflix with a subscription.
All That Jazz (1979)
Director: Bob Fosse
Cast: Roy Scheider, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer
Watched: February 12 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid career of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Tubi TV (with ads).
All That Jazz is magnificent, a tragic, funny, extravagant film. The existential crisis at its core is so effective because the movie is such a rollicking good time.
The Yakuza (1974)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith
Watched: February 13 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George’s kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia.
Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu and Google Play.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Cast: Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
Watched: February 17 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Hulu with a subscription.
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Director: Carl Franklin
Cast: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals
Rewatched: February 18 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn
Synopsis: A unemployed Black war veteran is hired to find a mysterious white woman in 1948 Los Angeles.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Amazon Prime with a subscription.
Patty Hearst (1988)
Director: Paul Schrader
Cast: Natasha Richardson, William Forsythe, Ving Rhames
Watched: February 20 at the Roxy Cinema in Manhattan
Synopsis: In the 1970s, Patricia Hearst is abducted by American revolutionaries, but eventually joins their cause instead.
Where to Watch: Streaming for free on Pluto TV (with ads).
Kaleidoscope (1966)
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill
Watched: February 22 at home in Brooklyn
Synopsis: Barney Lincoln is a rambling gambling man who scores sensational wins at poker and chemin de fer because he has succeeded in marking the original plates for the backs of all the playing cards manufactured in a plant in Geneva and used in all the gambling joints in Europe. In his gambling depredation, Barney is spotted by Angel McGinnis, the daughter of a Scotland Yard Inspector ‘Manny’ McGinnis on the lookout for a man to do a job. The inspector enlists Barney’s help in playing poker with a shady London character whom Scotland Yard wants to force to financial ruin.
Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu and Google Play.
Warren Beatty plays cards, catches bad guys and romances Susannah York in Swinging Sixties London. What’s not to like! The score also features a sitar! Oh and some guy kills someone with a flamethrower Rick Dalton style!
The Taste of Things (2023)
Director: Anh Hung Tran
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Patrick d’Assumçao
Watched: February 24 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan
Synopsis: The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet who she has been working for over the last 20 years.
Where to Watch: Now playing in theaters.
I have never seen anything quite like The Taste of Things. The romance at the center of this story is as rich as the food the characters are cooking. The cooking scenes in the kitchen are as exhilarating as many of the best action sequences. The less you know about the movie, the better. Go see it, but don’t go on an empty stomach.