Ahead of the release of All Eyez on Me, we round up some of the best biopics about musicians.
Control (2007)
Photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn was perhaps the ideal man to make a film about Ian Curtis, the tortured lead singer of British band Joy Division, who committed suicide in 1980 at the age of 23.
His stark black-and-white cinematography perfectly echoes both the band’s carefully crafted aesthetic and Curtis’s bleak lyrics.
Newcomer Sam Riley took the role of Curtis, while Corbijn’s wife and Tony Wilson, the co-founder of the band’s record label, Factory Records, were the producers. New Order – the band that rose from the ashes of Joy Division following Curtis’s death – supplied the music, guaranteeing an unusually intimate relationship between the filmmakers and the subject of their movie. Corbijn had also worked with Joy Division as a photographer.
The movie won a host of awards, including the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Award and a Bafta for Matt Greenhalgh’s script.
Walk the Line (2005)
James Mangold’s film stars Joaquin Phoenix as country-music legend Johnny Cash, alongside Reese Witherspoon as his second wife, June Carter. Both were nominated for Oscars for their roles, with Witherspoon picking up the gong.
Unusually, although Cash died just two years before the film’s release, Mangold chose to focus only on the early stages of Cash’s life and career, ending the story when Carter agreed to marry him in 1968.
The film does not suffer for this, however, as evidenced by the armfuls of awards it picked up and an impressive US$186.4 million (Dh683m) box-office take – a record for a music biopic that would not be broken until Straight Out of Compton surpassed it in 2015.
The Doors (1991)
Val Kilmer pulled off a remarkably adept impression of The Doors frontman Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s film. It follows the singer from his Florida childhood through meeting his bandmates at UCLA in the mid-1960s and up to his mysterious death in Paris in 1971.
To be fair, the film isn’t the best rock biopic you will see – many of Morrison’s friends and family have refuted the film’s accuracy, while Stone, never shy to make a political statement, sometimes seems to be trying to shoehorn in such meaning where there probably was none.
However, it is still worth watching, if only for Kilmer’s impressive transformation into the leather-trousered Lizard King.
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Alex Cox’s classic tells the story of the last days of Sid Vicious and, by association, his band The Sex Pistols, following the punk rocker’s fateful meeting with professional groupie, drug addict and supposed love of his life, Nancy Spungen, in 1977.
Spungen’s exact role in Vicious’s decline into heroin addiction is still a matter of some debate, but a year after they met, both were dead – Spungen as a result of a stabbing believed to have been carried out by Vicious, though the trial never went to court as he died from a heroin overdose while on bail a few weeks later.
Gary Oldman took an early big-screen lead role as the snarling Vicious, while Chloe Webb played his doomed lover.
I’m Not There (2007)
When is a biopic not a biopic? When it's Todd Haynes's bizarre, non-linear, Bob Dylan-inspired I'm Not There.
The movie features six interconnecting stories, in each of which a different actor – or in one case actress (Cate Blanchett) – portrays a different facet of Dylan’s personality or era of his life.
Haynes assembled a heavyweight cast for his experimental film, with Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw lining up alongside Blanchett as the other Dylans.
If it sounds hard going, do not worry. Despite the director’s unusual approach, the movie is highly watchable – and even gained the approval of the notoriously grouchy Dylan himself, who told Rolling Stone that the film was “all right”.
High praise indeed from the king of the grumpy old men.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Company%20profile
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The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
NATIONAL%20SELECTIONS
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Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: CVT
Power: 170bhp
Torque: 220Nm
Price: Dh98,900
