Elvis

Elvis is an enjoyable musical biopic that doesn't bring much new under the sun in terms of plot and slightly alters key events to build a somewhat better drama around them, but its main asset is of course Baz Luhrmann's idiosyncratic directorial grasp and especially the committed performance of Austin Butler, who manages to completely connect with the character of Elvis from the first minutes. Who failed to blend into the character, however, and who sticks out like a sore thumb in the film, is Tom Hanks. It's kind of a matter of whether you accept his peculiar efforts, but I simply didn't believe for the entire two and a half hours that I was seeing Colonel Tom Parker, but rather just Hanks overacting under a layer of prosthetics. Baz Luhrmann doses his hyperstylisation sometimes unnecessarily too much and his choice of the accompanying soundtrack, or rather modern music genres, in a story about the king of rock 'n' roll, I would in all fairness call at least questionable. In any case, and despite these distractions, the film works and offers a truly spectacular experience, which is worth seeing if possible on the big screen. For me, slightly mixed satisfaction. (01/07/2022)

In many ways this is a remarkable piece of work that shows its protagonist through the eyes of the antagonist, the music and the image of Elvis as a construct of the environment and the media, and also as the passion it held in one man, controlled like a puppet by every greedy little bugger who wanted to make a buck out of Presley, which eventually drove the whole world mad. Elvis's career was a ground-breaking show with an impact on pop culture that even the Beatles didn't have in Britain, so it's clear that Luhrmann opts for heavily pop-cultural filmmaking devices – from splitscreen to extravagant compositional continuity to flashbacks and flashforwards, with a narrator who is utterly reliable in all his guile and cunning. Tom Hanks may never have entertained me like this before, and as the manager, Parker dangerously steals some scenes for himself – as does Luhrmann, who dominates the fragmented but iron-clad and coherent plot much like Parker dominates Presley's life, reduced to a glittering pompous cliché. "I'm caught in a trap, I can't walk out....," Elvis sings in Casino as his manager makes a deal with the devil and takes absolute control. Luhrmann showers us with vivid scenes, but never leave us floundering, clinging to his increasingly fractured protagonist as the noose around his ill-fated life partner tightens. Everything is perfectly aligned, each act and each collage complementing each other in an almost constant spatio-temporal communication, which in Luhrmann's circus rhythm is almost dizzying. How long can a man be an attraction when he himself is denied pure joy? Countless motifs for comparison emerge from the film, which makes it easier to navigate the dynamic arrangement, and the fact that the director, with his perfectly calculated mannerisms, sometimes takes us too far away from Elvis can be forgiven – the final archive shots bring such lumps in our throats that not even the greedy Parker would take them. And I don't want to blame Butler at all, who was really amazing and blended so well with Elvis that after a while I didn't notice the actor, but only the character, something I couldn't do with Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody. Richard Roxburgh, my still favourite Sherlock Holmes from a not so favourite film, was also very enjoyable, and thanks for Little Richard. This is how you make biopics about cultural icons, through the lens of a culture that was crumbling before your eyes, and all it needed to be happy was a good wiggle in its hips. Again and again. 90 % (29/06/2022)

Two and a half hours of visual debauchery where the editor, the cinematographer and the director's specific signature reign supreme. However, when it comes to the emotional level, with the exception of a few moments, the film only touches the surface. Luhrmann doesn't know how to work well with characters and their personal motivations and emotions, which, among others, was also problem in The Great Gatsby and other films of his. As an homage to Elvis, it is alright, as a proper viewer experience, not so. In this, Elvis is beaten by the romantic A Star Is Born. (30/10/2022)

Austin Butler looks nothing like Elvis, he doesn't have his unique charisma (no one does), but he’s a total magnet for women with his knockout looks, so he's a clear casting hit. Unlike the overrated Bohemian Rhapsody, which was held under the authoritative thumb of Brian May and where Rami Malek only played Mercury, Butler became Elvis for two and a half hours with his movements, his sexy deep voice, and the sparkle in his eye, which Malek didn't have. The first hour is a roller coaster ride, the timing of the scenes, the blending with the comic book panels, the craziness of the female fans, the riveting live performance where Elvis was arrested, the editing is fantastic. But there’s one big BUT. From the moment the Beatlemania fatally interferes with Presley's career, the film loses traction and, rather than focusing on the first ten years or so of his career, when he influenced rock 'n' roll like no one else, the story focuses on the last phase of his work and life, which is no longer so crucial and interesting. I would cut short everything that revolved around his career winding down at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. PS: Tom Hanks is perfect as the backstabbing manager. This is where I'm sure at least an Oscar nomination will clink. (15/08/2022)

It was agony to spend nine years waiting for Baz Luhrmann's next feature film, but at least in terms of the visuals, the editing, and the overall use of the author's characteristic mannerisms, Elvis didn't disappoint, quite the contrary. Everything shines, pulsates, and moves from side to side, from window to window, or over the rooftops exactly as the fans would have hoped. The problematic yet daring creative twist is the narrator. To distance oneself from the idolized icon and let someone speak who, even with the greatest objectivity, is the antagonist, could have resulted in an absolute screenwriting disaster. Instead, Elvis is more alive than other biopics, but also not always comfortable for the audience and sometimes even venomous. In short, it's as if Fletcher were telling us about Australia, or even if the Duke himself was guiding us with his voice after Moulin Rouge! – a completely different kind of emotional experience. I understand everyone for whom this change didn't land right, but I also understand everyone who felt that the creators were forcing them to start hating Tom Hanks. I stayed close to the enthusiastic fever of all the camera and sound tricks, but slightly bitter that all of Baz's films in the last thirty years have resonated with me a bit better. (10/10/2022)