It’s really hard to do a good biopic; the genre tends to be platitudinous. Biopics skim surfaces. Someone struggled and maybe faced tragedy, and the

A Complete Unknown - by Cass Sunstein - Cass’s Substack

submited by

Style Pass

2024-12-30 23:00:03

It’s really hard to do a good biopic; the genre tends to be platitudinous. Biopics skim surfaces. Someone struggled and maybe faced tragedy, and then triumphed. Or someone struggled, maybe faced tragedy, soared, and then faced tragedy again. Or someone struggled, soared, maybe faced tragedy, and then found lasting love. Or: It’s the Hero’s Journey all over again. You might feel the emotions, but it’s a Hallmark card.

The most brilliant biopic I know is I’m Not There, which is about Bob Dylan. Todd Haynes uses an assortment of actors, of various ages (and genders), to play Dylan. (Ben Whishaw is amazing.) It’s witty and it’s funny; it’s playful and mischievous (like Dylan). It’s disorienting. There’s nothing platitudinous about it (like Dylan).

It doesn’t try to tell the truth about Dylan (like Dylan), but it kind of does. One reason is that the actors say some of his actual words, and they also say things that while not actually Dylan’s own, capture something true about him.