Best Biographical Movies - Part 13
Posted on 1 Dec 00:00
This article shares seven more examples of the best biographical movies ever produced.
Plot: 'It Might Get Loud' centers on the theme of music. It focuses on the life of three guitarists, Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. The three rock music icons explain their perspective of rock music. They are from three different generations, so most people expect them to have varied perspectives. On the contrary, these three musicians have the same opinion of rock music and jam together. After the session, they extend their tour by visiting one of the grand halls in town. Apparently, this is the scene where the track ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was composed. Here, Jack White does an on-camera performance of a song, Fly Farm Blues' which becomes his first solo single.
Director: Davis Guggenheim.
Main Cast: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White.
Commercial Performance: This movie probably one of the most successful biographical films. It grossed $1,807,506. Its budget is unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film has a total of seven nominations but no awards. At the 2010 Cinema of Eye Honors Award in the USA, the film was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation.
Plot: This film is a personal documentary that Martin Scorsese did about the history of cinema in Italy. The film focuses on various films, including 'Paisà' (1946), directed by Roberto Rossellini, '1860' (1934), directed by Alessandro Blasetti, Rome, 'Open City (Roma città aperta)' (1945), directed by Roberto Rossellini, 'Cabiria' (1914), directed by Giovanni Pastrone and 'Fabiola' (1949) directed by Alessandro Blasetti, and The Iron Crown (La corona di Ferro) (1941), directed by Alessandro Blasetti. Most of the films in 'My Voyage to Italy' are those directed by Rossellini. The movie also includes films by Martin Scorsese which discuss the neorealism period of Italia. Rossellini’s movies make about fifty percent of the films covered in the film. These touch on Rossellini’s seminal influence on Italian cinema and cinema history.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Main Cast: Martin Scorsese is the film’s host and the protagonist. The movie also includes mentions of some directors, including Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni.
Commercial Performance: Unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film was critically acclaimed. It won the Criterion, an Award for The Passion of Joan Arc. It also won the Home of Vision Entertainment Inc, another award for The Passion of Joan Arc.
3. That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Plot: 'That’s Entertainment, Part II' is a compilation film. The movie includes a scene where Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire dance together after thirty years. They pave the way for a vast number of musical tracks and introduce comedy bits. In the movie, a multitude of films are shown, including 'The Broadway Melody' (1929), 'The Songwriters' Revue '(1930), 'Blondie of the Follies' (1932), 'Grand Hotel' (1932), 'Red Dust' (1932) and 'Tarzan the Ape Man' (1932).
Director: Gene Kelly
Main Cast: This film included a large cast. The prominent roles were played by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. The film also includes appearances by Abbott & Costello, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Lew Ayres, John Barrymore, and Lionel Barrymore, among many other artists.
Commercial Performance: Unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film was critically acclaimed and won one award and received two nominations. During the 1976 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the film won a KFCCC Award for Best Documentary. In 1977, the movie received two nominations, one for Golden Globes for Best Documentary and the other for The U.S. Cinema Editors for Best Edited Documentary (Bud Friedgen and David E. Blewitt nominated).
4. Joan Rivers, A Piece of Work (2010)
Plot: This movie focuses on Joan Rivers, highlighting her life. Also featured in the film are Melissa Rivers, Kathy Griffin, and Don Rickles. The film chronicles the life of this iconic female performer, especially during her 76th year of life. Filming took fourteen months. The audience sees Joan's life unmasked, the struggles she encounters and the sacrifices she makes as a woman performer.
Director: Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg.
Main Cast: Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Kathy Griffin and Don Rickles.
Commercial Performance: This movies is another of the most successful documentary movies. It grossed $2.9 million at the box office. Its budget is unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film was critically acclaimed and won one award, the U.S. Documentary Editing Award, at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010.
5. Bigger, Stronger, Faster (2008)
Plot: the focus of the film is drug and substance abuse in sports. This film chronicles how anabolic steroids and Viagra are used by athletes and how it relates to the American Dream. It also shows how America is inconsistent in its opinion on substance abuse and how sports tolerate it. The film also shows how people cheat and go to great lengths chasing success. Some of the celebrities the film features are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone.
Director: Chris Bell.
Main Cast: Chris Bells focuses on his two brothers, Mark "Smelly" Bell and Mike 'Mad Dog' Bell.
Commercial Performance: This film grossed $308,575. The budget is unknown.
Awards and Nominations: The critics reviewed this movie favorably. Metacritic gave the film an average rating of 80%. Roger Ebert commented about this film, 'remarkable in that it seems to be interested only in facts.’ It won two Karlovy Vary Fresh Films Fest awards.
6. Tyson (2009)
Plot: This movie focuses on heavyweight boxer, Mike Tyson. It depicts Tyson's controversial life. It begins with 20 year old Tyson's win over Trevor Berbick and his motivations. The film displays many aspects of Tyson's dysfunctional life. The only father figure he ever had was Cust D'Amato, his first professional trainer, and how Tyson expresses his grief upon D’Amato’s death which crushed crashed him when he was 9 years old.
Director: James Toback.
Main Cast: Professional boxer, Mike Tyson.
Commercial Performance: This movie is one among the most successful films in the biographical genre. It grossed $942,049. Its budget is unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film received was well by critics who praised it. Its premiere was in 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film won the Regard Knockout Award at the Un Certain Regard event.
Plot: This film explores various kinds of gleaning. It features Varda as she moves through rural and urban areas of the French countryside to talk to gleaners. She also visits those who are connected to gleaners but are not gleaners themselves. Varda includes in the film people whose ancestors were gleaners.
Director: Agnes Vardar.
Main Cast: Bodan Litnanski and François Wertheimer.
Commercial Performance: Unknown.
Awards and Nominations: This film was a critical success, winning awards worldwide. In 2014, critics did a poll by Sight & Sound and awarded The Gleaners and I' as the 8th best documentary film of all time. Later in 2016, it took the 99th position on BBC's list of the 100 greatest movies of the twenty-first century. The film also won several top honors, including those at the Chicago International Film Festival, Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards.
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