Neither a hero nor a cautionary tale, his life hovers in an odd space: genuinely amazing and impressive, definitely theatrical but not quite dramatic. To their credit, director Tate Taylor and trio of screenwriters do a good job of disguising the problem with a bold approach to the storytelling. The opening minutes also let us know that, however zany Brown might be, the movie intends to match him. Probably because they realize that Brown's life trails off into a 30-year ellipsis, the filmmakers flash back and forth through time, zigzagging around, making poetic connections between events. Sometimes damaged people stay damaged, and sometimes popular musicians make their contributions and then stay in one place forever. Just about every encounter between Boseman and Dan Aykroyd, as Brown's business manager, has a warm dynamic, and Viola Davis has some of the movie's best moments as Brown's desperate mother.