Reel Corner - December 2023
The Year of BioPic Films
December 2023 Issue
Reel Corner by Donne Paine
The Year of BioPic Films
A biopic is a movie that dramatizes the life of a real, non-fictional individual. Short for “biographical motion picture,” a biopic can cover a person’s life or one specific moment in history. Topics for biopics are endless, with famous figures from history, along with popular celebrities of late, being featured.
NYAD (2023)
Annette Bening, Jodie Foster | Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin
The remarkable true story of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who, at the age of 64, became the first person to complete the “Everest of swims," a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida through dangerous open ocean waters without a shark cage.
FERRARI (2023)
Shailene Woodley, Adam Driver, Patrick Dempsey | Directed by Michael Mann
It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered even more by the loss of their son, Dino, a year earlier. Yet, Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his other son Piero. Meanwhile, his drivers' passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.
THE IRON CLAW (2023)
Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, Maura Tierney
Directed by Sean Durkin
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
MAESTRO (2023)
Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Silverman | Directed by Bradley Cooper
Maestro is a towering and fearless love story which chronicles the lifelong relationship between cultural icon, conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro, at its core, is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.
THE BOYS IN THE BOAT (2023)
Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Toeter Guinness | Directed by George Clooney
Set in the depression-era 1930s, the story centers around the University of Washington's powerhouse rowing team and their struggle to qualify for Berlin’s 1936 Olympics under Hitler’s rule.
RUSTIN (2023)
Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Gus Halper, Glynn Turman | Directed by George C. Wolfe
Bayard Rustin, the brilliant strategist behind 1963’s momentous March on Washington and close advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated his life to the tireless quest for racial equality, human rights, and worldwide democracy. But as an openly gay black man, Rustin was all but erased from the civil rights movement he helped build.
JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (2023)
Directed by Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle & Karen O’Connor
In this biography, which opens with her farewell tour, Joan Baez takes stock in an unsparing fashion, confronting often painful memories. She opens up about her history with mental illness, family, drugs, aging and questions of guilt and forgiveness. For the first time on record, she speaks to her relationship with Bob Dylan, how she used her fame to launch his career, and the pain of their later estrangement. The film interweaves diary entries and Baez’s own illustrations with extensive conversations and backstage moments from the tour.
References www.imdb.com, www.vanityfair.com, www.wikipedia.com
May your holidays be happy days filled with love and laughter,
And may each day bring joy your way in the year that follows after. Thank you for being a loyal Pink Reel Corner reader.
Donne Paine, film enthusiast, once lived around the corner from the Orson Wells Theater in Cambridge, Massachu-setts, where her strong interest in films, especially independent ones, began. Supporter of the arts, especially films, she has traveled to local and national film festivals including Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca. There is nothing like seeing a film on the big screen. She encourages film goers to support Hilton Head local theaters, Park Plaza Theater and Northridge. To support her habit of frequent movie going, Donne is a vaccine medicine nurse consultant and also the author of 4 Interview Pillars available on Amazon. See you at the movies!