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Midas Man: Missed Opportunity
"This superficial biopic about Beatles manager Brian Epstein renders him and the Fab Four as mere cardboard cut-outs.... A flimsy portrait of the man who discovered The Beatles" - The Telegraph "...as though scripted by Wikipedia." - Uncut Magazine "... it just feels way too by-the-numbers. It just never excites" - DVD Fever " It's all a bit too sanctified and safe - lacking in rock'n'roll edge" - The Guardian "...you are left wishing for something else to commemorate the wonderful yet short life of one of the music industry's greats." - The Upcoming " it feels compromised and clumsily staged. There are some good moments and ideas here, but they sorely reminded me of what was missing" - The Post "Midas Man" fumbles a golden opportunity to tell us what we don't know about the tragically short life of Beatles manager Brian Epstein" - Limelight Magazine "It's plain to see it's hopeless..."
Given the history of the film the bad reviews are not remotely surprising. The film was several years in production. It went through THREE directors, numerous scriptwriters, multiple cast changes. The official credits list no less than TWENTY producers! Spoiler Alert: Great art is not created by committees! Each of the Beatles' films had just ONE director. ONE producer! It was originally intended that the film be given a proper theatrical release. Seen in movie theaters and cinemas. Especially in the UK and the USA. First at film festivals - Sundance, Venice, Toronto, SxSW, London, Los Angeles, New York. Then a series of grand premieres - London, NYC, Hollywood. Followed by a respectable release for a quality art-house film. It was to be an important film that could do for Brian's legacy what the movie "The Imitation Game" did for the reputation of WWII hero Alan Turing. But so bad was the film that no theatrical distributor would release it. It has ended up as just another streaming product on Amazon. The "direct-to-video" of today's world. It has all the status, cultural significance and artistic gravitas of a Ricky Gervais stand-up special or a puff-piece "documentary" about the Kardashians. And when we write "Amazon" - at present it's only available on Amazon in the UK. It's not showing up on Amazon USA. Which is bizarre for a film relating to the Beatles. And so highly-regarded is the film by Amazon-UK they aren't highlighting it on their homepage or boosting it as a new release. It's a non-event. A loser. "A shanda fur di goyim" What a dreadful shadow to cast over Brian Epstein. But no wonder... The film didn't spring from the muse of a writer or filmmaker. It was confected by an advertising executive with an ambition to become a big shot in movies. Were the intentions behind the film good? Presumably. Was it a noble effort? Probably. Did they want to do well by Brian? Certainly. Has it succeeded? No. The precise opposite Why did it fail?
• Misconceived premise Apart from that - it's fine... Damage done: Immense. This massively lessens the chance of a proper film ever being made about Brian in the future Silver lining: It may have brought you to this website. Want to see a good film about Brian? Here are a couple: First - a short film. It says more about Brian in just 6 minutes than the new mish-mash could say in 6 lifetimes... One Of Us - The Ultimate Tribute To Brian Epstein Second - the film of a new TED Talk about the Beatles - that includes a major heartfelt salute to Brian The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!
Lastly - here's a tribute to Brian by the Beatles scholar who orchestrated the successful campaign to get Brian inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame
Shalom Brian
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