It couldn't have been easy trying to squeeze James Brown's life into a feature film. Born into poverty, domestic violence and abandonment in backwoods Georgia, Brown used his emotional pain to leverage his way to stardom and a prominent spot in the pantheon of American music. Watching Brown go through that experience is both exciting and sorrowful because one is continually reminded of the endless, degrading journey blacks have had to make from Jim Crow to the present. In the back of my mind were images of Ali, Nina Simone, Michael Jackson and a whole list of idols who struggled with 20th century racism.
Get On Up unfolds in contemporary, non-linear style, jumping to and fro in time and delivering a relatively nuanced vision of James Brown's already dramatic story. Mercifully, it's taken until now to get this project done; Hollywood would certainly have bollixed it up a decade ago. Some of the flashbacks are cliched and Brown's Jewish promoter doesn't evoke much interest as played by Dan Akroyd.
For the most part, the film deals glancingly with race, choosing to focus more intently on Soul Brother #1's rise on the charts and his personal demons. But reading between the lines of Get On Up with a knowledge of say, Ali's refusal to be drafted for Vietnam or Michael Jackson's pursuit of 'whiteness', you can't help but feel the weight of race on James Brown. Carrying that weight and the film, is Chadwick Boseman, who could easily get a nomination for not only mastering Brown's speaking voice and finesse on stage, but for always making The Godfather of Soul a vulnerable man. It's one of the best performances of the year.
From a musical perspective, the film fails to underline the importance of Brown's contributions to music. Not a living musician who plays hip-hop, rap, disco, r&b, soul, funk, jazz rock or all the myriad electronic offshoots stands clear of Brown's shadow. Brown's famous shout "On the one.." refers to emphasizing the first and third beats of a measure instead of the traditional second and fourth. Whereas many popular recordings from the sixties forward showcased wall to wall sound, lush strings filling any spaces, Brown's spare arrangements derive power from the silences. In one of the few musically relevant scenes, Brown lectures his sidemen, alerting them to the fact that whatever they play, they're playing drums. [For those interested in the development of Brown's musical genius and more about his idiosyncratic personality (he had his hair done three times a day) see "The One", by RJ Smith.]
Get On Up keeps Brown's electrifying showmanship front and center, where any James Brown bio should be. He's ordering purple suits for the band, checking his hair, rehearsing tirelessly and always watching the bottom line. Ultimately, the film is imperfect, trying to be all things to all people. It's part Hollywood bio, part realistic drama, part historical drama, part rip snorting entertainment.
More than usual Voyage Into Subjective feels especially subjective. James Brown is a musical idol of mine and his story, in some ways, parallels that of black America struggling to 'make' it against great, continuing odds. I was moved and saddened at the cost.
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