The greatest opportunity to be made in producing a Brian Epstein biopic for the big screen is to delve into the perspective of an outsider in the background taking charge of the pop culture phenomenon brought by The Beatles in the 1960s.
The suit-wearing Epstein, who discovered the band during an underground gig, dressed the group in his suave fashion and mediated with the hesitant producers to bring Beatles music to mainstream media. The enormous popularity of the music group wouldn’t have happened without his flair, and his authority to string together what might be the greatest run of any artist is still incomparable.
“Midas Man” provided a snapshot of this significant part of Epstein, briefly to an extent we may have known it all already.
The film takes the harmless approach of a traditional biopic, painting his life as a trivial canvas. Epstein would break the fourth wall occasionally and speak about his thoughts of the moment instead of the film expressing them for us.
There’s a rich history there, and a richer character in Epstein as someone who’s hiding his sexuality while managing the biggest music group in the world. We get to see some of it in a pivotal scene involving a phone call revelation, but it is just not enough to fully realize him.
The saving grace of “Midas Man” is Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, who brought confidence and charisma as Brian Epstein. Some may argue that he is just working on a level equal to the material, but I feel his performance improved a large part of the lukewarm scenes in the film.
“Midas Man” has a troubled production with numerous directors involved during the shooting period, and it shows. A clearer and tighter vision can significantly improve this film. I’m sure we’ll be getting another biopic of the same person in the future. Next time, perhaps? But this should be good for the meantime.
Midas Man is now showing in New Zealand cinemas from Transmission Films.
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