by John Zenoni
Absolutely loving the latest Baz Luhrmann film, ‘Elvis’ -- and its soundtrack. Having grown up in a family with women who loved, no, worshipped Elvis Presley, I knew I had to check out this latest film about his life. Let me preface this review by saying I had only watched one of Luhrmann’s films in its entirety, 2013’s ‘The Great Gatsby’, which I did really like, and had seen snippets from ‘Moulin Rouge’, which my daughter and her teenage friends watched multiple times when it was released, which I thought was strange because to me that movie was so weird (or so I thought at the time). But, it seems like that was THE movie at the time to watch when it was released in 2001. I just never could get into it, other than listening to that excellent version of Elton John’s ’Your Song’, performed by Ewan McGregor.
Anyway, for anyone who is a true Elvis fan, I do think that you will find this film to be favorable overall. The film does take a different approach in that it's told from the perspective of Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks, who does a great job as usual, and who is the ‘enemy’ in the eyes of most people that followed Elvis during his career. Parker tells his side of how he discovered Elvis and took him from a kid born to a poor family and turned him into the most famous person in the world! I will say that there is a lot of story told in this film - it's almost 3 hours long - and a good bit of going back and forth that it could have done without.
What I did enjoy was the film showing Elvis’ humble beginnings and how much gospel/R&B influenced him and his musical style. You can see and hear it throughout the film. Needless to say, the sounds and music are huge focal points in the film. As far as the other performances, the other standouts are Olivia DeJonge as Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Presley, and Helen Thomson as Elvis’ mom, Gladys. But the knockout performance is definitely that of Austin Butler, who portrays Elvis Presley. When I first saw the trailer for this film, I didn’t think Butler looked anything like Elvis, but now having seen the film, I could not have been more wrong. He gives an absolutely amazing performance and definitely needs to be considered during award season. The similarities to Presley's looks and mannerisms are uncanny. Kudos to him and to Luhrmann for going with an unknown. It definitely paid off.
No comments:
Post a Comment