RE Get On Up First off we give Chadwick Boseman and Tate Taylor props for even attempting to tell the story of someone as brilliant, complicated,prismatic, dramatic and demi-god like as James Brown. The flick has many problems but lack of effort isnt one of them. End of the day Bosemans performance has body it has soul and a life force to call its own. Id even go so far as to say Boseman has one of the most emotive faces weve seen in a long while --theres major reserves and ergs of empathy, strength, character, rage, charm there --all of which keep the lead part as (atrociously) written from slipping into straight caricature. So wish Katori Hall had written this movie. Biggest problem with the flick though is that its not The Godfather. It lacks the humanity the intimacy, the sense of history the politics and the cinematic esthetics of that classic. James Browns story is richer than that of the invented Corleones as a focal point for illuminating how Power got seized by tightly bonded, second-class insurgent ethnic folk in 20th century America. You tell Browns story right and youre also telling that of the powerful people he knew and interacted with--LBJ, Vice President Humphrey, Nixon, MLK, H. Rap Brown, The Black Panthers. Youd need a Coppola level director who was Black and proud to do it for damn sure. Note: Coppola was only given the Godfather to direct because Hollywood believed only an Italian director could tell this extremely Italian-American familial/patriarchal story. James Brown barely even has a family in Get On Up.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:49:05 +0000
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