Film Review - Elvis
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Media.
Sometimes it’s easy to overlook just what achieving fame meant in the mid-to-late 20th century. From the 50’s through to the 80’s if you were famous, you were everywhere, in everything all the time. These absolute hives of personality enshrine whole decades:Sinatra’s got one, so does Michael, and The Beatles have a couple. These memories of culture are some people’s whole lives, and when it comes to celebrate such lives lived, the cultural phenomenons they cause are a sight to see. This time around it’s Elvis Presley’s hundredth comeback as Baz Luhrmann returns to filmmaking after nine years.
Elvis isn’t a movie, it’s an event. I went to a premiere nearby and was treated to a warmup of impersonators, drinks and karaoke as microphones were seeding through the crowd and volunteers were welcomed to perform next to the man impersonating the man himself. The Titanic-length feature hit the ground running and to my astonishment did not relent for even for a second as Elvis transformed from street kid to tragic superstar. Shifting between the perspective of Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker - played by Tom Hanks who sports a bewildering accent throughout. The visual cues employed throughout Elvis are used to steer audiences along what could have easily been overwhelming source material, especially given the creative liberties taken by Luhrmann. There’s already so much ground to cover, so I was frankly surprised by just how many moments were included that weren’t grounded in fact.
I suppose the legend precedes the man, but in doing the obligatory binge required after watching any biopic of an artist you’re not particularly familiar with, I can’t deny that creative liberty and the nature of taking inspiration from true events slipped my mind and I left the film under the impression that Presley was the single most captivating person to ever breathe. This is a compliment to Elvis and the authenticity of its performances that wholly deceived me and left me feeling a fool when I discovered a highlight of the film where a certain someone has a hissy fit on stage actually only involved a backstage discussion after the show.
The editing in Elvis didn’t give me much time to critically analyse the realism at hand. As the film travels back and forth in time, interweaving narration throughout and basically recreating music videos when it can, camera warps and those scrumptious transitions I mentioned earlier leave zero time to reflect before the next crazy chapter of a wild career begins. Around the two-hour mark a noticeable chunk of the audience gave in and in unsettling coordination took a toilet break during the same scene. I consider this a testament better than any review could muster; these people tried their absolute hardest to not miss a single second of a movie with roughly 8,800 of them.
They were captivated and it was the darndest thing: when Presley sang, so did the audience, and when he finished, they applauded him. The lobby afterwards was swarming with impersonators flanked with selfie requests, and the couple who had been sitting next to me excitedly told me about their plans to go to Graceland next year. This enduring, intimate (?) connection is the magical thing about The King. To these people, he was the man who sang their wedding song, inspired their childhoods, and created friendships they still enjoy today.
Regardless of whatever I have to say about feeling silly for not realising that the Colonel didn’t actually have a heavy Dutch accent, the die-hards - the people who will keep pushing Presly’s legend into the future - adored Elvis.
Elvis is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 23rd of June. For tickets and more info, click here.