BIGGIE: I GOT A STORY TO TELL

BIGGIE: I GOT A STORY TO TELL is NOT, I repeat NOT, a film about his murder and the west coast-east coast rap rivalry that proved so fatal. Rather, its director Emmett Malloy pitches the documentary as a film about Biggie's life and work. The problem is, if you studiously avoid his death, and why it happened, you basically have to exclude a lot of what made Biggie (and Diddy) problematic people.  You exclude Diddy's ties to the Cripps - you exclude some of the nastier taunting diss tracks against Tupac - and you exclude ties to outright crime and corrupt police forces on both sides of the country. 

The result is that this documentary skates close to hagiography. Biggie is a ludicrously talented rapper, influenced by jazz improvisation. He is generous and loyal to his childhood friends and loves his moms. He loves his children.  To be sure, he's a drug dealer too. But he wants to leave that life and dedicate himself to music. Apparently. 

Still, I didn't regret watching this film. I learned a lot about Biggie and in the best way possible - watching candid home videos and behind the scenes footage of his rise to fame. We also get wonderfully honest and charismatic talking heads - from Biggie's no-nonsense mother to Diddy to childhood friends. I felt that I came out of the film with a better understanding of what life was like in that era of Brooklyn, pre gentrification - a slice of sociological history - and a new appreciation for Biggie as a rapper. His early death was a tragedy. But let's be honest, his hands were not entirely clean in the matter and neither were Diddy's.

BIGGIE: I GOT A STORY TO TELL is rated R and has a running time of 97 minutes. It was released on Netflix on March 1st.

ICARUS

Playwright Bryan Fogel is also a keen amateur cyclist, and as many of us, was scandalised not just by the Lance Armstrong admissions, but that Armstrong wasn't brought down by any of the official Olympic or state machinery designed to entrap dopers, but by the fact that his team-mates turned on him.  So Fogel decided that he was going to show exactly how easy it was to evade drug tests bu doping himself, and capturing the entire thing in a documentary.  Originally he tries to get the guy who runs the US anti-doping lab to help design his drug programme, but he backs out.  His Russian equivalent, Grigory Rodchenkov, appears to have no such qualms.  And so Fogel starts taking IPO, and monitoring his progress, and sees predictable and incredible improvements in quality. Although, as I have often pointed out, that doesn't mean he magically becomes good enough to win a Tour de France.  

About 45 mins into this 2 hour film, the real world catches up with Rodchenkov. The extent of state sponsored Russian doping at the Sochi Olympics is exposed, Russia receives a ban on competing, and Rodchenkov is under threat from the state.  The tone then shifts from doping expose to thriller, as Fogel helps Rodchenkov flee the country.  By this point, Fogel is evidently very close to the charismatic Russian doper, and admires his willingness to give detailed testimony against his former employers.  But the very closeness that gets Fogel the story, is also, ironically, the fatal flaw of this documentary.  Fogel wants us to see Rodchenkov as a victim, and maybe he is a little, but he's also equivocal and has done many illegal things that Fogel seems to inclined to forgive him for. The other fault of the documentary is about 20 minutes of running time that could easily be taken out of this rather rambling tale. 

ICARUS has a running time of 121 minutes. It played Sundance 2017 and was released by Netflix this month.

SNOWDEN - BFI LFF 2016 - Day 12

Jyoti Kalyan reviews SNOWDEN:

If you have a basic understanding of Edward Snowden’s story, don’t expect to learn anything new by watching this dramatised version. Director Oliver Stone had everything to make this film thrilling by immersing audiences into the psyche of Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon Levitt ), a high level intelligence contractor who leaks millions of classified documents on how the NSA illegally spy on individuals without their consent or knowledge. There were opportunities for gripping audiences by exploring the moral battles being fought by US Intelligence workers, shedding light on the secret yet ‘legal’ Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts or even uncovering the power and influence possessed by those within the hierarchy of these organisations. However, what we do get is a film that touches interesting points but provides no depth.

Stone’s ‘dramatisation’ seems to hit its crescendo within the first five minutes, where we see Snowden locking himself in a hotel room with three hand-picked journalists, ready to hand over the secret documents. But, from then on, it is flat and dragged out. The recurring theme that US Intelligence Agencies spy on all of us is portrayed through many long-winded examples that it begins to bore the audience. The inclusion of Snowden’s girlfriend adds no value and is all too predictable, especially when focusing on the impact his job has on their relationship. As far as casting is concerned, for me no one stand out in the slightest, and let’s not even begin to delve into what Nicolas Cage is doing playing a mentor to potential intelligence agents.

The film does however end with an actual clip of Edward Snowden, conducting a public interview to a large audience from his new home in Russia. For me, this was a rare scene where you could actually get to know the character and should have been longer!

One should not forget that an incredible story underpins this movie. It is the ultimate David vs. Goliath battle which could have captivated millions of cinema-goers around the world. It is a shame Oliver Stone’s representation doesn’t do Snowden justice. You might just find Wikipedia’s version a lot more fun !

SNOWDEN has a running time of 134 minutes and is rated R. The movie played Toronto and London 2016.  The movie opened earlier this year in Israel, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Sweden, Turkey, the USA, Vietnam, Brazil, Germany, Croatia, Portugal, Finland, Lithuania, Denmark and Norway.  It opened earlier in October in Spain. It opens in Spain on October 7th, in France on November 2nd, in Greece on November 3rd, in Belgium on November 9th, in Poland on November 11th and in Italy on December 1st.