...About José José, a legend of Mexican music known for crooning melancholy ballads (the Frank Sinatra of Mexico, to make a vulgar comparison).
While his music is well-loved, he is perhaps remembered just as much for his fall from grace due to alcoholism.
And this movie is pretty much about alcoholism. It's shown to be a trait he shared with his father, although it doesn't psychoanalyze it. Nor does it try to overdramatize the alcoholism even though he does end up in the hospital at one point. It's mostly played factually - it happened, it was wrong, let's not do that, let's move on. In other words, it's not an anti-alcoholism harangue.
There are a few "biopic clichés" here. He gets into scrapes with local ruffians, there are dramatic infidelities, and he's down on his luck for a while and has to take some bottom-of-the-barrel jobs. You know, the stuff the kids like to see these days.
I don't know enough about him to say whether they happened or not, in fact, but truth is no defense in cinema and I notice that this sort of stuff happens to a LOT of celebrities in their biographies. Creative license or do all celebrities just have similar lives? HMM...
Two things distinguish it from most biopics, though. One is that they have a gay friend around for comic relief. The other is that the movie opens up with a fireside chat with the man himself. Both, I think, work. While offensive, the gay guy does lighten the mood of the picture. The prologue seems heartfelt.
It's not groundbreaking, nor is it very focused, but it's informative and mildly entertaining. José José's music is good too, although I wouldn't say it was extremely well-woven into this mostly upbeat movie and it's hard to make this sort of melodramatic and grand music work in films anyway if it's the only thing you're going to use (José José, to my knowledge, only sang this ONE type of song, so there's not much breadth to draw from).
Honourable Mentions: Arthur (1981) a movie about an alcoholic that romanticizes alcoholism. Not the best message, but sure is a fun movie.
