For whatever reason, 2016 is seeing a glut of musician bio-pics: Hank Williams Sr., Chet Baker, Nina Simone, and Miles Davis are all getting the Hollywood treatment. Thinking back on this genre, it occurred to me that you could count the number of great movies about musicians on one hand, and that hand would have to be without fingers or clenched in a fist (though I am a sucker for Amadeus.) It makes you wonder: what do filmmakers think of when they seek to make a film about the life of a popular singer, other than dollars? Obviously, there’s an admiration of a great talent, which begs the question as to why so many of these movies seem so bereft of skill, much less imagination. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d imagine it’s the same desire that prompts people to want to make movies from books—if a musician’s life is a great story, why, by all means, transform it into a great movie. | Uptown Theatre Director: Don Cheadle Producer: Robert Ogden Barnum, Don Cheadle, Pamela Hirsch, Darryl Porter, Daniel Wagner, Vince Wilburn Jr., Lenore Zerman Writers: Steven Baigelman, Don Cheadle, Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson Cinematographer: Roberto Schaefer Editors: John Axelrad, Kayla Emter Music: Robert Glasper Cast: Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Keith Stanfield, Christina Karis, Austin Lyon, Nina Smilow, Joshua Jessen, Theron Brown Runtime: 100m. Genre: Drama/Biography Country: USA Premiere: October 10, 2015 – New York Film Festival US Theatrical Release: April 15, 2016 US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics |
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