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I saw it today, and really liked it. I feel like it avoided most of the typical problems associated with the biopic because it felt like one coherent story. I feel like a lot of biopics are 'greatest hits' films whose structure is defined by the need to show a bunch of disparate events that the famous person did, and as a result, the narrative can suffer. I don't know much about the real Hughes, but at least in the film, things progressed in a logical manner, and the film was one story not just a bunch of snapshots of a life.
As said above, the Hepburn/Hughes stuff was fantastic, but it was by no means the only good stuff. The flying scenes were phenomenal, both the effects work, and the sense of motion and flight conveyed within. You could really understand why he would risk so much for the planes.
The film isn't as radical technique wise as Goodfellas or Raging Bull, but the stylistic experiments Scorsese does attempt generally work well, notably in the screening room scenes, which are very uncomfortable to watch and the paparazzi scenes, which make great use of the quick cuts on the flashbulbs. That's something that could have been gimmicky, but ends up working really well.
Also, the ending leaves you with a really odd feeling of both triumph and knowing that all the flight in the world can't take away Hughes' problems. Plus, knowing that things got worse by the time he dies, the film does a good job of giving you a happy ending, while at the same time recognizing things are downhill from here, in the way, say, Ed Wood did, when it gave you an unqualified happy ending. |
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