Elvis (2022)
Warts and all telling of a broken hearted story
I was too young for any of Elvis Presley’s many periods of international fame and was a mere toddler when the unfairly and much maligned “Fat Elvis” met a broken hearted final demise in 1977 at the criminally youthful age of just 42. From “Elvis The Pelvis” and the threat to the Establishment that the exciting young man from Memphis was in the 1950’s through the enforced military service in Germany of the 1960’s and the re-birth of a more rounded and “All American Boy” figure the Establishment and his fans could love, they are all on display here in a somewhat warts and all telling of someone I’ve grown up with but whom I always saw as the most outwardly happy man but who was clearly incredibly unhappy on the inside away from a stage he craved. The parallels with the life of Muhammad Ali are starkly apparent: the outsider and threat to an established order who is so radically fresh, different and absolutely adored by a vast public, cut down in their prime, curtailed and rounded before being approved of, acceptable, then absorbed as a more agreeable, and non-threatening part of an established life.
I lived through the final years of “The King”, or the “Comeback Years” as they were/are known, and I grew up with Elvis Presley due to the complete obsessional love my youngest sister had for the greatest of all showmen. As is shown in such a pinprick and sharp focus in the film, Elvis was an industry, a commodity, a brand and (deep breath everyone) a slave, and long after that dreadful smear on humanity had been outlawed as well as long before such things as being a singer songwriter could be deemed an industry and a brand from which merchandise could be sold in the gazillion. My dear youngest sister had everything, everything that could possibly be construed as memorabilia back in the day, from pictures, tapes and records through to ashtrays, calendars and mirrored clocks with the face of The King. This aspect, amongst many others, is my main reasoning for describing this telling of his life as warts and all as well as showcasing the brilliance of the broken hearted human being behind the brand image, and an industrial brand so cruelly and selfishly exploited.
In many ways I’ve grown up with Elvis long after his death, many of us have, and I still adore his comeback years, especially shows such as “Aloha From Hawaii” or others whereby we see, or believe we see, the truest and most human Elvis Presley. The performer, the singer, the believer, and the Showman preaching his gospel and black roots R’n’B inspired music to the masses. I’ve also grown up with the books and tall tales of his mysterious manager and his shameless exploitation, his life after death, the continuing of a brand and an industry that will never die and frankly, after seeing this fantastic telling of his life, I rather hope he did disappear for a quieter life, fake his own death and, whilst he may not have worked down “the chip shop” of the Kirsty MacColl song of the early 1980’s, I hope he found some peace, wherever he may now be within our universe.
Supported by Olivia DeJonge as Elvis’ wife Priscilla Presley, Helen Thomson (Mother) and Richard Roxburgh (Father), one other supporting stand out falls to David Wenham as singer songwriter Hank Snow amongst many other portrayals of real life friends and influences such as singer songwriters BB King and Little Richard, but here are your two principal players:
“Elvis Presley” (Austin Butler) First of all it must be acknowledged as an incredible, heartfelt portrayal and incredibly impressive. Despite having roles in films directed by Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith since 2016, I wasn’t aware of Austin Butler. But now I am. All of the hip moving and pelvic shaking moves are here, but far more impressive is the showcase he provides of the no doubt incredible highs and depressive lows experienced by the man and the myth he inhabits here. From the innocent idealist hanging out and breaking segregationist barriers between black and white as well as the real inspiration for his music, through to the broken hearted man in his early 40’s saying a tearful goodbye to his young daughter before the start of his final run of shows, it’s a tour de force performance from Austin Butler.
Bravo.
“Colonel Tom Parker” (Tom Hanks) Bravura performance from Hanks, but what else do you expect? Reprehensible? Exploitative? Somewhat conman? Visionary? Slave owner? Or a driven manager who sees the spectacular impact this incredibly unique young man can have in the entertainment industry? All are on display here in a performance shown often, and very deliberately, as a man in the shadows, a shadowy figure and interloper into a tight family or “The Memphis Mafia” and the archetypal arch manipulator and puppet master pulling the strings. Always addressing his young protégé as “Boy” or “My Boy”, I felt the film pulled no punches in showing an unsympathetic and despicable character flogging a dead horse repeatedly and only to settle his own bad bets. As lonely as his young charge, Hanks showcases this with a haggard, cold display of a secretive character living on his wits and as deeply unhappy as the young man who would grow into a legend would quickly become.
The only gripe I have for this film (and from only one viewing so far) is the over reliance the film had for the story of Tom Parker and Hanks’ seemingly deathbed style narration. I immediately felt I was seeing and hearing his story rather than that of our legendary musical hero. Aside from this, it was a typical Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet) directed film, full of glitz and glamour and titled slides progressing us from the early breakthrough days on Sun Records before The King’s ultimately sad demise. Real life footage is littered throughout, the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy especially affecting and unless I’m mistaken, the film’s final song of Unchained Melody and associated footage was from The King himself.
I may indeed have been mistaken as I was wiping away a few rogue tears long before this incredibly moving denouement. I didn’t expect to cry as perhaps I didn’t expect to have so much invested in the film by the time Elvis sings for the final time. But I did and I was also enveloped in a huge sense of sadness for the man, the son, the father, the husband and the legend that will never, ever die.
Highly recommended.
“Elvis” can also be found within my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” on Amazon with each and every volume free to read should you have a Kindle “Unlimited” package. All 9 of my self-published books can also be read for free on Kindle (but go on, treat yourself to a paperback or hardback version!) and should you watch my short Youtube video linked in the middle of this article you’ll also find links to my Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee and other ways of supporting my work as an independent writer.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
