6 Movies like BlackBerry (2023): Neatly done and parted silver hair. A bald head with a thick brown demarcation line. And yeah, curly hair brought together by a red headband. Add lots and lots of eyeglasses to the frame, and you will get the aesthetic of Matt Johnson’s latest film BlackBerry exactly right. Based on the book ‘Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry’, the film charts the spectacular rise-and-fall story of the developers of the world’s first mainstream smartphone company.
Only the route it takes defines a possibility different from the one that the other films follow using a similar template. It uses unhinged black comedy of cringe-inducing proportions and blends it with a similarly mindless tonality, which enables its sophisticated based-on-real-events drama in ways that were unanticipated for me. The comedic weight has been handled with real style and conviction, and for once, a film where the characters (nerds, really) know they are so, really works.
An altogether stylish, funny, and engaging drama that will have you rooting for no one yet will keep you watching, ‘BlackBerry’ has to be one of the best films of the year. And in spite of breaking away in some assured ways, it comes from a line of dramas that follow the tryst of unlikely people who construct marvels in the history of corporate entrepreneurship and product development. Here are six movies that you definitely might enjoy if you, like me, really liked ‘BlackBerry’:
1. Air (2023)
If you are a lover of entrepreneurship-based dramas, this year is a ball for you because we already have three that are really well-liked, and we do not know yet how many more are to come. Another period drama made along similar lines is AIR, a compelling mainstream sports biography that beats the usual beats by following them exactly as they are. Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, this Alex Convery-written film is the origin story of Air Jordan, the famous basketball shoe line created by Nike – it is basically about how the company got Michael Jordan convinced to sign for the brand.
This is an incredible story told well and with a human face, and it carefully plays along its stripped-down, inspirational spirit, which works engagingly despite being familiar. Both the comedy and rousing provocations have been handled diligently well, and the performances are all utterly convincing. The individual moments sprinkled in between really cohere together well to make an otherwise template untold story come to life and vigorously so.
2. Tetris (2023)
Entrepreneur dramas or otherwise, Apple TV+ these days seem to be handling all the pop-culture stuff in a terrific manner, and the year’s third entrepreneur-centric, real-life drama is no exception. Directed by Jon S. Baird (of ‘Stan & Ollie’ fame), the film is based on the long run to acquire the license and patent of the famed video game Tetris from Russia during the Cold War. Rightly cornering the historical accuracy for Hollywood entertainment, it also functions as a character study of the Dutch-American videogame designer Henk Rogers.
Carrying an excellent performance by Taron Egerton (who has already delivered us plenty of goods with his performance in the series Black Bird), Tetris surprises with its well-defined potency that mirrors a Cold War thriller, even when it never forgets its position as an American film that needs all of that humor and heart that keeps a studio project going. In short, it is a film that literally plays smart- really, really smart.
3. Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
A biopic tailored for television by Martyn Burke, Pirates of Silicon Valley is based on Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine’s 1984 book ‘Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer’. Spanning the years from 1971 to 1997, the film explores one of the greatest entrepreneurial rivalries of all time – that between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It also touches upon how this rivalry influenced the form and identity of PCs as we know them.
A very entertaining “geek” tragedy, the film’s historical accuracy has often been debated. However, what stays a fact anyway is that it is a muscularly directed and razor-sharp drama with fascinating Shakespearean undertones that are matched really well with how the real events historically transpired. Just like ‘BlackBerry’, it has got an offbeat approach to events known and documented on paper and, of course, has the right actors for the parts.
4. Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022)
If you have a penchant for well-made biographical comedies like ‘Blackberry’ that explore men with tendencies to change the futures of a consumerist market, you might as well like this new Netflix picture. Revolving around the true life of author and pinball enthusiast Roger Sharpe, ‘Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game’, directed by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg, is really engaging and also constantly funny.
His journey of overcoming thirty-five years of ban on the game of pinball in New York City is ripe with compelling conflicts designed for a film, and the opportunity has been exploited really well by the directorial duo, making their debut with the film. The rose-tinted affair of the film’s visuals almost reminds one of the period drama pleasures of PTA’s confetti-layered Licorice Pizza. I think that is enough to sell it!
5. Steve Jobs (2015)
Steve Jobs led a glorious and eventful human life apart from a dynamic and highly successful one, and his life and times have consistently caught the attention of popular culture. Among them, this one biopic of his directed by Danny Boyle, is often ranked as the most masterful, primarily because that is no exaggeration.
Based on the 2011 biography written by Walter Isaacson and the interviews of Jobs conducted by Aaron Sorkin (who has also scripted this film), this is a brilliantly rendered stand-alone film that gets one step ahead of you in order to affect you emotionally. It also achieves a degree of complexity, which is another plus of the viewing experience. Of course, like most of the works of Sorkin’s writing, here, too, there are instances in which the script itself outdoes the film it finds its presence in, but otherwise, it is a core-rattling and razor-sharp elevation that you might need after you are done with the sneakily comical ‘BlackBerry’.
6. The Social Network (2010)
You might be familiar with a lot of David Fincher film opinions, but I have this really controversial one – that The Social Network, which I often recognize as the primary and sole torchbearer of the best English films of the last decade, is the peak of his work, a masterpiece of his that he has not topped post this or even with the works before. It remains this unsurpassed and gleefully brilliant masterpiece that always warrants several rewatches, and I revisit this film like a ritual.
Yes, it is sensationally good and deals with the “sensationally” part of it really smartly but mostly because it really connects you up close and gets you to try to understand this nerd who has made some terrible decisions in his life to get that position up there. The film does this in an awfully effective and original way. ‘The Social Network’ is intricately undone by its own complexity, and its simple aesthetics are a perfect match for it. Words fail me in describing the film, only these adjectives remain. ‘BlackBerry’ fans, you gotta see this film to believe it. If you have not already, that is.
