How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★★☆☆ 13 March 2016
A movie review of MILES AHEAD. |
YouTube review:
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“He’s probably more profitable dead than alive now, huh?” Harper Hamilton (Michael Stuhlbarg)
Biopics are getting as bad as the rom-com and horror genres in terms of quality to quantity ratio. Veering so often to the lazy, the biographical movie often attempts to cram an entire life into two hours to lacklustre, uninsightful effect. That the mediocre, middle-brow efforts still get made by the boatload can perhaps be argued to be due to their undeserved reward at the Oscars, see A BEAUTIFUL MIND, THE KING’S SPEECH, RAY, WALK THE LINE, etc. etc. Contrast the greats (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, RAGING BULL, AMADEUS, SELMA), they share an avoidance of cramming an entire existence into their runtime.
Biopics are getting as bad as the rom-com and horror genres in terms of quality to quantity ratio. Veering so often to the lazy, the biographical movie often attempts to cram an entire life into two hours to lacklustre, uninsightful effect. That the mediocre, middle-brow efforts still get made by the boatload can perhaps be argued to be due to their undeserved reward at the Oscars, see A BEAUTIFUL MIND, THE KING’S SPEECH, RAY, WALK THE LINE, etc. etc. Contrast the greats (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, RAGING BULL, AMADEUS, SELMA), they share an avoidance of cramming an entire existence into their runtime.
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The music biopic is probably the worst culprit for bland storytelling, constantly repeating the rise-addiction-fall-redemption formula. There have been recent signs shaking off the groan-some plot: I’M NOT THERE and LOVE & MERCY. Making his directorial debut, Don Cheadle appears to have brought on board these lessons. MILES AHEAD takes place over just two (incident-filled) days.
One wonders how much of what we witness actually happened, but the almost caperish adventures are used to illuminate, to mixed success, the pioneering jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis; perhaps the filmmakers are making a sly nod to how legend is created through mythologizing? The script is certainly enjoyably knockabout, as Cheadle’s Davis banters with cheeky, opportunistic reporter Dave Brill (Ewan McGregor), desperate for an exclusive. It is 1979, and Miles Davis has been in semi-retirement since 1975; though rumours, and pressure from record label, are circulating that a comeback album is in the works.
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There are shoot-outs, a car chase and fisticuffs. (I told you, incident-filled.) The prize is Davis’ work in progress on a sole master tape. Such elements play against expectation, yet do not satisfy on their own. They are counterpoint to the jazz legend’s regret at the treatment of former wife Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi), who he took for granted at best and mistreated at worst. These flashbacks haunt our subject. Implication, that she was the love of his life. There are also other asides, such as racist policemen arresting him for merely standing outside the bar he is performing at - a brief but impactful point.
This is what really elevates: The Proustian jumps in time triggered by random encounters. Inside an elevator he pulls the wall back and we see him in the past as he cements his status performing with virtuosity. The gig segues to the present in a car. A punch bag session quick cuts to Davis landing heavily on a couch. Polaroids lying around show time flowing. More experienced directors should take note.
MILES AHEAD, then, has style, but a delving into who he was is still a little lacking.
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