I don’t expect biopics to ever give me the full story or even an accurate story for that matter. In fact, many documentaries are only giving us one side of the argument and sometimes less than that when compared to films based on a true story. So when it comes to Tate Taylor‘s take on the life of the “Godfather of Soul”, James Brown, Get On Up plays like a film that gives us a small taste of the darkness that was in Brown’s soul after a rough upbringing and a life in which he felt he was always on his own. The result is entertaining and inspiring while also being a little bloated in the middle. One thing, however, is for certain, Chadwick Boseman continues to impress, following up his performance in 42 with another “out of the park” portrayal of an iconic, bigger-than-life star.
The screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth bounces through time, noting our place in Brown’s life not only by year but by a variety of nicknames and catchphrases setting one portion of his story apart from another. We follow Brown from his time as a youth in the mid-40s when his mother (Viola Davis) left him and his father (Lennie James) dropped him off at his aunt’s (Octavia Spencer) brothel before joining the army. A few years later Brown is caught stealing a three-piece suit before finding salvation in the form of Bobby Byrd (“True Blood’s” Nelsan Ellis) who gets him out of jail, into his band and on the track to stardom… though admitting he was ever helped on his rise to the top is something Brown won’t easily accept.
From his days with The Famous Flames to his solo act and pretty much every song of his that ever became popular, Get On Up tries to cover as much ground as possible. Brown is portrayed as a genius musician, a bad friend, a bad husband, a tyrant of an employer and a broken soul.
Working toward an overarching theme, Taylor makes good use of the screenplay’s fractured narrative as well as allows Boseman to break the fourth wall and address the viewing audience. Typically this breaking of the fourth wall is something that can grow annoying, but Brown’s ego allows for it as does Boseman’s performance whose moves, mannerisms and vocal inflection bring Brown to life in ways that are mostly entertaining, but also heart-breaking and sometimes terrifying.
For that matter, the performances are great across the board with the likes of Nelsan Ellis and even Dan Aykroyd standing out. Both Spencer and Davis are expectedly solid in limited screen time. I also enjoyed seeing Craig Robinson as Brown’s one time saxophonist Maceo Parker. Parker would eventually go on to have a great career on his own, at one time playing with Prince, just one of many artists clearly influenced by Brown both musically and as a performer, something Boseman does a wonderful job of capturing on screen. No, that isn’t Boseman singing, but that most definitely is him dancing thanks in large part to choreographer Aakomon Jones who also plays Bobby in the film.
The biggest issue Get On Up faces is its running time. At 138 minutes it’s just too long as Taylor probably felt he couldn’t cut certain scenes out, but it needs to be trimmed by at least 15 minutes, keeping the narrative as energized as Boseman’s performance and Brown’s music. Taylor, however, knows how to close things out as one final performance hits pretty hard, getting to the heart of the film’s thematic goals.
Special kudos go out to costume designer Sharen Davis (Dreamgirls, Ray) and makeup department head Julie Hewett (Saving Mr. Banks, Hitchcock). James Brown was just as much about style as he was attitude and funk, and Davis and Hewett’s team deliver in ways that doesn’t draw attention to itself for any of the wrong reasons.
Overall, Get On Up is lively and a lot of fun, though not without brief moments of darkness and heart. Brown was clearly a complicated individual with a rough upbringing, though he managed to pull through, becoming one of the most influential musicians to ever live.
