Starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Ackroyd, and Viola Davis
Directed by Tate Taylor
Music and Lyrics by James Brown and others
Our next biography is of a real-life R&B legend. James Brown's tumultuous life story was one of the inspirations for The Five Heartbeats. Unlike them, his career spanned genres and generations, from passionate ballads in the early 60's to being one of the most sampled musicians in rap songs by the early 2000's. Brown was known as "Mr. Dynamite" for a reason.
Universal had been trying to get this off the ground since 2000, but were prevented by financial and music rights difficulties. They tried again when Brown died of pneumonia in 2006, but finally got it going in 2012 when Mick Jagger agreed to be one of the producers and they brought on director Taylor. How well did they do with the story of the man whose dynamic performances hid a lot more heartbreak backstage? Let's begin at the ending, with Brown (Boseman) attacking his own business while stoned, and find out...
The Story: Brown (Jamarion and Jordan Scott) grew up in a shack near Augusta, Georgia with his mother Susie (Davis) and his abusive father Joe (Lennie James). His mother walked out to become a prostitute and his father joined the Army, leaving him in the care of his Aunt Honey (Octavia Spencer). His aunt runs a brothel, and he becomes fascinated with the flamboyant people who come there, and even more with the "shout" gospel music lauded to the heavens in the church she attends. He boxes briefly later, but proves to be unsuited to it.
At 17, he steals a suit and ends up in jail. He meets Bobby Byrd (Ellis) when he brings his gospel group to sing at the church. Impressed by Brown's voice, Byrd's family gets him parole, and he joins the band and moves their sound from gospel to R&B and soul. Even Little Richard (Brandon Mychal Smith) is impressed when Brown jumps onstage with his newly christened Famous Flames during one of his shows. Little Richard admonishes him to avoid "the white devil," but Brown joins a white R&B record company and hires one of their people, Ben Brandt (Ackroyd), to be his manager.
Brandt at first shunts the band off to the sidelines, leading them to quit. They return in 1962 when James puts in his own money to record the hugely successful Live at the Apollo album. Two years later, he upstages the Rolling Stones at the T.A.M.I Show and pays young DJs to promote his albums and avoid paying promoters. He even manages to keep the audience from rioting in Boston after Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in 1968 and, despite almost being shot down, joins the USO and plays for Vietnam troops later that year.
His home life isn't doing so well. He divorces his first wife Velma (Jacinte Blankenship) and abuses the second Deirdre (Jill Scott). He's not thrilled when his mother tries to get back into his life, and first his band, and then Bobby quit over his tendency to expect perfection, insist they work on days off, and hog the spotlight. It's not until he gets out of prison in 1993 that he finally mends fences with Bobby, reminding them that, no matter what life throws at them, they still need each other.
The Song and Dance: Boseman and Ellis lead a parade of powerhouse performances in this story of a searing performer driven to sing at all costs, including the cost of his relationships. Boseman may be more attractive than the young Brown, but he still nails his mannerisms and his unending energy and charisma. Ellis more than matches him as his best friend through (almost) thick and thin, who is generally happy to be off to the sidelines and let James bask in the spotlight. Ackroyd and Davis also do well as the "white devil" who proves to be more of an angel in disguise and the mother who left him behind. Love the gorgeous cinematography in many of the real locations this was set, including Paris and rural Georgia. The non-linear story that jumps between incidents from Brown's life makes this a little more creative than most standard Hollywood biographies.
The Numbers: We don't get our first number until nearly fifteen minutes in, but it's Brown's searing "Out of Sight" that steals T.A.M.I from the Rolling Stones. He dances to his signature "I Feel Good" with the band in red ski sweaters on the set of the winter Beach Party imitation Ski Party ...at least until he realizes he'd much rather be taking things up a notch over a decade later. That "shout" preacher almost literally throws himself into "No More, My Lawd" at an all-white church, inspiring Brown's signature funky style. He's one of the inmates joining Bobby's gospel band for "O Mary, Don't You Weep, Don't Your Mourn," until he's attacked by another prisoner and starts a fight.
Smith is equally magnetic in his one number as Little Richard. "Tutti Frutti" shows Richard's flamboyant style even better than "Caldonia" showed off Brown and the Flames. James' one boxing match even turns into an instrumental jazz number as he imagines a jazz combo playing as he's beaten black and blue. "This Thing Called Love" gives us a brief routine at a club showing Brown's early success with black audiences. Syd Nathan (Fred Melamed) doesn't understand "Please, Please, Please" the way Ben Brandt does, considering it repetitive and protesting Brown recording it despite Brandt pushing it.
No wonder Live at the Apollo was such a smash, with a short but really funky rendition of "Night Train" that the audience adores. "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" shows how he fell for Deidre and how dramatic his shows could get, which takes us back into a brief reprise of "Please, Please, Please." "Cold Sweat" is performed in the recording studio, showing how hard he could be on his band, his wife, and his best friend. His band mate Pee Wee imitates him singing "Mother Popcorn" in the studio...before the assassination of Martin Luther King. He convinces the mayor of Boston to let the concert go on, despite the riots in the summer of 1968...and keeps the audience from tearing the town apart with his rendition of "Mother Popcorn," even letting one kid dance onstage.
He records the Civil Rights anthem "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" with a chorus of kids in the studio. A lean, mean James comments on his current situation right before a dynamic "Soul Power" in Paris. His truly heartfelt "Try Me" in 1993 is what finally convinces Bobby and his wife Vicki that all is forgiven.
What I Don't Like: Though the non-linear story makes this unique among biopics, it also makes it hard to follow. The erratic quick-change editing that rarely lets anyone finish a number doesn't help here. While the costumes are nice and remain true to the time, the makeup on everyone later in the film is anything but convincing, particularly on Ells. They could have gone even further into certain aspects of his life, like his heavy involvement with the Civil Rights Moment and writing his own material. Like Five Heartbeats, this also goes on for way too long.
The Big Finale: Worth seeing for Boseman and Ellis' performances if you're a fan of Brown or vintage R&B and soul music with time on your hands.
Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming.
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