I humbly submit Control as an example of a great musical biopic. This story of Ian Curtis, shot beautifully in monochrome by Anton Corbijn, cleverly echoes the "Angry Young Men" British new wave of the late 1950s/1960s (think films like Billy Liar, A Taste of Honey, Room at the Top, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Servant, etc). It also features none of the cliches of the musical biopic genre. There's no rock and roll glamour here whatsoever. Just a superbly acted, desperately sad tragedy of a brilliant musician with mental health problems. There's no redemptive postscript (or, thank God, here-are-the-real-people footage - a particularly ghastly and manipulative cliche) saying Joy Division are considered one of the greatest bands ever, that from their ashes came an arguably even greater band, New Order, etc. Just a simple caption saying when Ian Curtis took his own life. It's devastating, and makes no excuses for being devastating.