Girl You Know It’s True: Review

11th August 2024

Girl You Know It’s True Review. By Christopher Patterson.

A Refreshing Classic in the Terrible Neverending Biographical Film Space

One of the more known music scandals out there, and one I probably don’t have to recap. But I will since it is decades old after all. Essentially, they didn’t sing their songs. Controversy starts. And. And. Well, here’s the backstory. In my eyes, I find explanation unworthy of all, as life itself is life, and why waste it on possible others interests or cares? But as with all art, it is unworthy. Simply, doing for the sake of no purpose other than just doing something. So, as a film, it is pretty great. Seeing their lives, focused on, at the time offers some real insight. Plus, some fantastic and clever direction and phenomenal set design and acting. This film succeeds in one area cinema seems to constantly forget. Life and a heart. Girl You Know It’s True combustion with care and vulnerability you honestly just don’t see anymore. If the world were to end one day and you had, for some reason, to watch only one film, a film like this with a heart, I would much prefer over a cold, pointless attempt at making films conditioned to likeability or stimulation rather than all the humanness that can seem to be so forgotten. And this sentiment becomes clear through this two-hour journey.

To start, it’s a really brilliant choice seeing the brothers, at the start, narrate their biographical journey in this unique way where they try to explain their lives in this really frantic and exciting way since that opens the floodgates to this feeling of cinemasickness. This film, simply, really basks in every minute of its runtime and this opening makes sure no one forgets that.

Unlike other film biographies where they are overly filmed, suffer from flanderization, and hyper-emotional to boost Oscar wins, Girl You Know It’s True has this fun and bouncy edge to not just its writing and dialogue but to its cinematography where it feels like the world shifts with age in not just costume design but in camera and landscape. This film really makes you feel like you’re seeing a different era every five minutes, and that takes dedication.

I find explanation such an annoying element of life. Explanations sometimes are not needed. Truth is one’s subjective and, in turn, perspective reins all. To attempt to eliminate down to the objective is a joke, as objectives are theories, one could say. It is more naive than being naive.My point to all of this is to describe my favorite choice done by the film I will continue to mention. Perspective. This film is not a biographical film that feels like a made up exaggeration of events but rather an honest and bare perspective that has been long forgotten in the controversy that ensued. What makes Girl You Know It’s True so strong is its mountain of joy and life experienced throughout.

One thing this film reigns in hard is the production element of music. It really shows you the tutorial of how retro music media was made. The funky outfits, the over-the-topness of life reflected in popular media then. And the curtain is pulled. It is pulled in the first seconds where we see behind the scenes, and there is this documentary feel to it that just clicks. It is so cool this film feels like it reveals sympathetic portraits of different eras but also different films altogether. Like a film, within a film speaking of another film. It accomplishes this through choices of, if I had to pick some: making the film look artistry at first with all of its very specific shots then at other points making it feel super 80s not just in design but in how the camera is shot micking how it was done then and I could go on and on.

If you want to be a geek on the history of Milli Vanilli, you get it; if you want a fun and constantly exciting film burning with usual joy, you get it; if you even want a compelling and intriguing drama. You get it! This is one of those films that has it all. Maybe a little too much.

Holding Girl You Know It’s True Back is not its writing or the usual issues with biographical films, but rather its excessiveness. Simply, too much at once. I found parts of this film exciting and constantly entertaining, but around the beginning, I felt it all was a bit too rushed. While this can be slightly excused down to the brothers being, from the start, the narrators of their story and getting to the parts they want to talk about, it regardless feels like they were so much squeezed in their younger years to adulthood that felt a bit, well very much, glossed over. Though, regardless, the parts shown had an amount of heart that made that almost forgettable.

Denseness is a hard thing to do for a biographical film. Hell, it’s hard to do for any film. To be able, for someone, to see a million extra variables in another million variables is an interesting thing for someone to experience with a film. And for myself, I really got that out of this picture. From the upbringing to their rise to fame, it all feels packed with commentary that goes unsaid that fluctuates throughout the universe. This is one of those films where mere minutes make you think of an essay you could write on it since it just seems so filled with things that aren’t at the center stage but you can’t take your mind off. Remember school when you had that class. You know, that class where it’s a vibe and all you can do, even though the moment is so valuable and you feel like it will cement in your mind, is think of the little details behind how the teacher writes and how neatly she writes. She doesn’t have to. But she does. And my god it’s so neat and pristine and. All those thoughts circulating. They make your life feel real. So stimulating. And you realize art does that too. You realize then you are not just living with all the presents but with it all those who were in the nonpresent. That feeling is what this film gives. There are a million things this film just makes you compelled by that seem so random but somewhat so poised and intentional.

An issue, if you watch biographical films, you know, is all the stuff needing to be covered. You are watching a life; two hours is hard to do the magic and you feel like you see twenty years. But Girl You Know It’s True has a smart magic trick. Narrators. Something so obvious, but one never really used as cleverly as here. This, to be, makes the film more impactful. It feels like, now, we are just seeing the ups and downs of someone but rather what they consider their ups and downs, their travels and triumphs, and it never feels rushed or even too much. It is comparable to hearing about someone’s life versus it feeling like them explaining it.

Plus, if the rest of the film doesn’t entertain you, stay for the ending. Trust me, it’s worth it.

VERDICT

Girl You Know It’s True is more than a biographical film. It is an experience to remember. It has that creativity that flows through every single detail but also the luxurious spirit fueled by Verhoeven reflected in so many shots. It has this unforgettable nature to it you hope when you see biographical films. You want a film that will give you the perspective of an artist. All art should, I guess. And you really get that here, plus much extra. There is this ever changing and bold nature to this biographical film that I think, and hope, inspires other biographical films to do the same. To be as bold and take risky choices that feel made for the thrill of it rather than to make another biographical film. A vision felt set and fulfilled.

4.5/5

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