Are there good biopics?
The question isn't quite clear.
Generically, a good biopic would be one that perfectly fulfils the criteria
of the genre, but the evaluation (as with any solely genre-based evaluation)
would be a determination as 'good' of that which simply 'is'.
Otherwise, we are simply asking if any biopics are good films, and the
several suggestions already made (Napoleon, Raging Bull, Mishima, Van Gogh,
Ali, Andrei Rublev, Ed Wood) answer yes.
Curiously (perhaps with the exception of Ali which I haven't seen) these all
seem to me to be deviant biopics, as if they were not simply good as well as
being biopics, but because they weren't quite proper biopics.
My own list of biopics I've enjoyed as biopics includes films I've liked
despite they're being not very good, like Dr Erlich's Magic Bullet and, more
recently, What's Love Got To Do With It and Malcolm X.
Regarding these last two: I used to think Angela Bassett had the most
thankless role on record as Mrs X, having to deliver one of the worst lines
ever with a straight face, i.e 'I want to be a good Muslim', and then I saw
her pretending to be a spiritual Tina Turner ('I want to be a good
Buddhist'), and realised how subtle Spike Lee's film was by comparison.
My point is I love both films, AS biopics and despite they're being bad. A
such I think they're good biopics.
Roland-François Lack
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