If one had no idea that Gianna Nannini is a real person, I would forgive them for thinking that Beautiful Rebel was supposed to be a dark parody of the music biopic genre. All the common tropes are there and explored in the most boring of ways. Even as compelling as a true life story about an artist can be, everything is crammed together so haphazardly that it just feels like a joke a lot of the time. The constant flashbacks to her childhood and the hallucinatory aspects veer on the edge of ludicrousness rather than any sincere examination of Gianna’s life. It doesn’t help that a prostitute character we are introduced to early on dies mere minutes later of an overdose within the first ten minutes of film. It’s trying too hard while also trying to look effortless by parsing down Gianna’s life. Embarrassing, to be honest.
If one had no idea that Gianna Nannini is a real person, I would forgive them for thinking that Beautiful Rebel was supposed to be a dark parody of the music biopic genre. All the common tropes are there and explored in the most boring of ways. Even as compelling as a true life story about an artist can be, everything is crammed together so haphazardly that it just feels like a joke a lot of the time. The constant flashbacks to her childhood and the hallucinatory aspects veer on the edge of ludicrousness rather than any sincere examination of Gianna’s life. It doesn’t help that a prostitute character we are introduced to early on dies mere minutes later of an overdose within the first ten minutes of film. It’s trying too hard while also trying to look effortless by parsing down Gianna’s life. Embarrassing, to be honest.
