"Rocketman" premiered at the 72nd Cannes International Film Festival. It is another biopic of a famous musician after "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was promoted by many people last year. The film, directed by Dexter Fletcher and starring Taron Egerton, is their second collaboration since Eddie the Eagle. Egerton plays the famous British singer Sir Elton John in the film. It is worth mentioning that Elton John appeared in "Ace 2" starring Egerton in 2017 (playing himself, The agent played by Uncle Colin once asked him for concert tickets), and in the "Voice of Joy" dubbed by a group of stars, Johnny, the gorilla dubbed by Egerton, also sang Elton's famous song "The Voice" in the open-air concert. I'm still standing". These "indissoluble bonds" seem to be destined for Elton to have Taron Egerton starring, and the popularity of Sir Elton John in real life also gives the audience reason to have unusual expectations for the movie.
"Rocketman" begins with Elton's memories of entering a rehab center. His extremely high musical talent at a young age allowed him to enter the Royal Academy of Music to study. In his adulthood, he met his lifelong partner, Bernie, in a "symptom activity". Tao Ping, the work created by the close cooperation between the two was quickly appreciated, and he was wildly sought after by fans through tours. In the process, he met his manager and same-sex partner John Reed. In the later stages of the film, Reed's increasingly cold feelings for him, tensions with his parents, alcohol and drug problems deepen, and Elton, who can't bear it, flees the tour and starts "saving himself." In the addiction treatment center, Elton John hugs the young Regin Dwight, and he sings "I'm still standing" by Bernie Taupin, and the film ends. The film uses Elton's golden song to connect each small climax, and there are also several elegant passages: "Saturday Night's Alright" transitions from boyhood to adulthood; "Border Song" is where Elton and Bernie meet and have a good relationship. Witness; "Honky Cat" is the epitome of being with John Reed and a turning point in the whole film; "Pinball Wiazrd" shows his exaggerated and crazy way of performing live in concert; "Bennie and the Jets" Cross-cutting group sex parties and live performances, overlapping clips of painful memories, brings out Elton's private life chaos and his inner struggles. The songs are not presented in chronological order, but in line with the dramatic expression of the film, it is acceptable from this point of view.
After Fox fired Brian Singer for sexual assault in 2017, Dexter Fletcher took over for Queen frontman Freddie Mercury's biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. This is a biographical film that is so close in time, involves the same director, and is the subject of the same famous rock musician. In terms of content, the two of them face almost the same problem of homosexuality, which brings tensions with their families and society. Inquiries from public opinion are also plagued by drugs and alcohol; in terms of film expression, they are also expressed through the combination of classic repertoires. These similarities are hard not to make people connect the two films together. The former won a lot of recognition in the awards season last year, but as far as the Oscars are concerned, it won five nominations, including the best picture, and finally won the best actor, best editing, best mixing, and most Four awards for Best Sound Editing. The addition of many honors seems to have contributed to the birth of "Rocketman". Calm down and put aside the "fan complex" to watch the homogenization tendency of these two films, but think carefully.
Biographical films have their inherent genre elements. As a biographical sub-genre of musician biopics, in addition to these necessary elements, the addition of music brings more problems to the film: how to integrate with the main story without being obtrusive; in this How to have a movie performance in the process without showing the texture of the MV; how to express emotions naturally without being directly offensive and so on. Here, the author watched several movies of the same type to compare, hoping to get an answer.
"Singing Tears" 1979
The film based on Janice Joplin ends with her death at the age of 27. In the movie, Janice's identity other than rock star - completely disregarding the eyes of others in pursuit of love, longing for the approval of friends and relatives - is a simple girl who breaks into the men's bathhouse without any scruples to find a lover, in a familiar shop Appeared, the shopkeeper showed a disappointed look when he didn't recognize her, and muttered, "Maybe you will know next time." Even her live performance is simple. In medium shots and close-ups, she sings with a microphone in her hand without reservation. The changing of the blurred lights behind her magnifies this beauty infinitely. As a film critic, Truffaut has expressed his ridicule for "self-considered" movies, and here we can see the importance of simplicity.
"Walking With The Song" Johnny Cash 2005
When the name of Jacques Phoenix appeared in the cast, it seemed that the performance of the film was very watchable. Indeed, in this biographical film of the American country singer Johnny Cash , in addition to the good songs, the only thing left is the acting skills of Jacques the Great. In the film, Johnny Cash, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is dealing with family, music and drugs. The film also hovers in Cash's weakness, entanglement and anger, and climaxes in a delayed prison concert. I have to admit that the love between Johnny Cash and Joan Carter is also very touching.
"I'm Not There" Bob Dylan 2007
The Bob Dylan biography "I Wasn't There," directed by Todd Hines , is one of the most authoritative. The film uses six different actors to portray the life of Bob Dylan, each of whom has a pseudonym, all traced to different stages of Dylan's own life. The most admired is the "big devil" Cate Blanchett "reverse" as Dylan during the transition period in the 1960s. The way the title appears is very characteristic. The permutation and combination of "I'm not there" indicates that "Bob Dylan cannot be defined" before the film starts, or it can be said to condense what the whole film wants to express, while Many tributes to "Eight and a Half" also confirm that this is Bob Dylan in the director's mind.
Inspirational James Brown 2014
"Black Panther" Chadwick Bosman played "American Godfather of Soul" James Brown . This is one of the best looking movies of all time. The film uses music as a sound bridge, combined with editing, interactively interspersed in different time periods, and requires the audience to stitch Brown's life fragments. The problem is also here, James Brown's musical talent is visible, and his growth experience is also visible, the only invisible is "James Brown" himself. The music might balance the beats here, but for fans who really know James Blonde, the question is not so simple.
"Every rock and roll has an R-rated life" cannot be the reason for the homogenization of movies. This is not to blame the genre on the basis of genre movies. Any audience has reason to demand the integrity of the output of any genre movie. This is especially true for biographies or the biographical films of musicians that this article wants to highlight, because music is so contagious that it can magnify any small advantage infinitely. As for the arrangement and stacking of events, what things can sum up a person's life? ? At this point, Wells already gave us the answer in 1941's Citizen Kane.
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