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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
Rebecca Shaw

Please stop making music biopics. We need a break from this tired genre that is essentially expensive karaoke

Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in the film Michael.
Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in the music biopic Michael. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Lionsgate

In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion around the new Michael Jackson biopic. It is a film that has seen huge success at the box office, while receiving mixed (mostly negative) reviews.

It has been skewered as a shallow film, more like a well-performed playlist of Michael Jackson songs than a deep dive into his complicated story. The movie also ends in 1988, a seemingly deliberate choice to avoid having to reckon with the darker aspects of his life that followed.

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