I’ve been on a “bio pic” kick. (Say that three times fast!) I really enjoy watching movies while I’m on the bike, and lately, I’ve noticed that I’m finding more biographical flicks than anything else. I enjoy movies (and books) about real-life people because I find all of our lives inspiring. We’re all here for a reason.

(Here for a Reason, art print)

Bombshell

It’s so hard to look back at someone from the past and think “Why didn’t she speak up?” I hear this now with some of the younger girls I know when we’re talking about #MeToo or I’m talking about how I worked my butt off for half the pay at the companies I was at. They don’t get it because what we went through and little by little changed has helped them have lives where they don’t even think about that stuff. (And that brings me joy.)

So I felt those same kind of conflicted feelings while watching Bombshell, which was about the life of Hedy Lamar. She was beautiful and an actress and also an inventor, and she felt because of her beauty and profession as an actress that she wasn’t being taken seriously. She felt like she didn’t get credit for her invention of sonar. This is a simplification of the story, of course, and in order to really, fully absorb it all you need to watch the flick.

I found myself feeling a great deal of empathy for her over this but also found that when I’d heard about a child she adopted that she just seemed to ignore and send away later, I felt very bad for that kid and wondered how she could do this. Of course, my own personal feelings of being adopted are part of that. I do not understand how anyone can adopt a child and then not treat them with love. Like, why do it? What was it you thought that child was going to do for you? Do you understand that you have an obligation now because you’ve chosen to be a parent?

So all in all, she was a fascinating and flawed person like we all are, and I encourage you to check out more about her story.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody

I really enjoyed the biopic on Freddie Mercury. Many years ago I wrote a post about sad songs that can make me cry and Queen’s “Somebody to Love” was part of that. There is a special story for me that goes along with that particular song. In general, I liked Queen’s innovation when it came to music. I like artists that don’t let the rules define them, and sometimes the rules are about something like marketing or genre. As artists, we need to do our own thing, not fit ourselves into a little box.

 

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years

So much has been filmed and written and said about the Beatles that I didn’t think I’d find this one interesting. But I did. Their music and songwriting are part of an interesting cultural revolution and again, I admired that they continually changed as their musical tastes and sensibilites changed.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture

Again, sometimes you find out about someone’s life and you feel conflicted. I wanted to feel sorry for Doug Kenney, who was the co-founder of National Lampoon and writer of Animal House and Caddyshack. He died tragically far too young and my heart breaks for the kind of lives that are just cut short too soon.

And yet, this biopic showed how many things went his way. Success came almost too easily for him and seemed to skew his view of failure and reality. I know no life is perfect, but his life was far easier than many of ours has been. The overarching message was that even success cannot make you happy, but I think for the vast majority of us who have had real, deeply rooted childhood traumas and struggles in life, it will be difficult to view all the things that were given to Kenney and not want to reach through the screen and shake him to wake him up!

And perhaps that’s the point. I think the film expertly conveys the right story telling mechanism with Martin Mull and in the tone they use to shine a light on Kenney’s life.