GET ON UP

Saw GET ON UP yesterday. Chad Boseman was pitch-perfect as the Godfather of Soul. In fact all the actors were on point. I think Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd should garner serious oscar consideration along with Boseman. My issue is with the inconsistant script. I want go into too many story details or give "spoilers." (Even though my friend Iris is in San Diego and I'm here in L.A., her hand will reach far enough to smack me!) Writing a bio-pic is a challenge especially if you want to avoid cliche. But the story still must have a through-line so the audience can follow the story of the main character either through thematic concept or an emotional arc. This film chose to fragment the story, randomly throwing moments from different time periods together. I think what they were going for was a physical representation of the complicated chaos that was James Brown's life and emotional state. There were interesting bits where he broke "the fourth" wall and spoke directly to the audience as well as individual moments (one in particular with Viola Davis as his mother coming backstage to see her son James at the Apollo) of true raw power. But it felt like the writers thought it would be cool to use a deconstructivist approach to tell Mr. Dynamite's life story without regard for coherence. Genre-wise we're all over the place from magical-realism, to satire, to tall-tale, to comedy, to concert film, to drama. You can mix genres but they have to mesh and add up to a satisfying, cathartic whole or you leave people scratching their heads in confusion and disappointment--like me and others I saw leaving the theater. I happen to have read two really good biographies about JB, the most interesting was written by trombone-sideman, Fred Wesley.( And he wasn't even in the movie. Maceo was chose to represent he and Fred. Craig Robinson who looks more like Fred placed Maceo. But how can you do a James Brown story and leave out Fred Wesley? C'mon now!!) Either one of those works could have been the basis for a compelling story. Fred's book is called HIT ME, FRED and even though it's about Wesley's life, the James Brown segments are very revealing. To be fair, Brown's life would be tough to fit into a 2 or even 3 hour movie. A premium cable series would probably be more suitable. But, focusing on one significant period of the man's life could be very compelling as a movie. Even if you wanted to be more expansive than that, the first rule is to be entertaining. Parts of this film achieve that. A second rule would be to make sense----story sense. That's the part that's very iffy. We're left with a very episodic experience with stellar acting that deserves better support from the script. Finally, I have to mention Jill Scott. She's amazing. Jill was so sexy in this movie that if the real Dee Dee was like her, you understand why James went nuts for her. Also Jill tapped into the woman's deep sadness and profound befuddlement at the man she found herself hitched to in just a few key scenes. That's acting---brilliant acting.