Watching the wildly uneven new James Brown biopic, Get On Up, one is apt to think three things: that Chadwick Boseman, who captures Brown’s amazing physicality with uncanny skill, is a genuine movie star; that what makes Brown (and the movie) interesting is his driven, ceaselessly inventive musical brilliance; and that, despite his craziness, his life isn’t dramatically all that revealing. His life lacks a satisfying shape.
But there are lots of movies about musicians that are emotionally satisfying and a whole lot of fun. Here are eleven wildly different ones about the musical life—its rises and falls, successes and failures, pleasures and hard day’s nights.
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Photo: Everett Collection
8 Mile
Back in his glory days of 2002, Eminem essentially starred as himself in this electrifying picture about a young white rapper from blue-collar Detroit. Charged with its hero’s anger, yearning, and confusion—about race, about sex, about his mom—**Curtis Hanson’**s gritty, semi-biopic brings out Eminem’s star quality, builds to a climactic rap-off worthy of Rocky, and boasts the rousing, Oscar-winning anthem “Lose Yourself,” which still sounds great a dozen years on.
