I've noticed these kinds of movies get real deep into a character. But they also display the external disparity between what's said verbally to other characters, and what truths the protagonist tells the audience through narration.
"Leon Morin, Priest" is a good example.
Big Fish (2003)
shareThe Wolf of Wall Street
Marty loves this technique.
Amadeus (1984). One of my favorite films despite the biographical inaccuracies.
shareI don't think I've ever seen a good biopic. I can't stand the inaccuracies in movies, because they tend to dominate the truth. Many people, even fans, are too lazy to do some reading, or to go straight to the source, even the heroes of the last century.
shareThe costuming and scenery in Amadeus really captures the era. Some of the shots look like they were taken straight out of an 18th-Century painting.
It's just too bad that they had to base it upon a conspiracy theory. Mozart and Salieri were not adversaries in real life.
I get past this by reminding myself that the story is being related by an aging Salieri whose mind is addled and whose memories are fading. The real Salieri actually did suffer from dementia at the end of his life, so it's not totally implausible that he could have made up such a story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Salieri
Yeah, the whole Salieri thing was a surprise, but how the focus was on him.
One thing I don't like about period pieces is all the focus on the costume, but not the times.
Stand By Me
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