Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thompson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, Leon Ford, Gary Clark Jr., Yola, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Adam Dunn, Alton Mason, Shonka Dukureh, David Gannon, Shannon Sanders, Charles Grounds, Gareth Davies, Chaydon Jay, Nicholas Bell, Josh McConville, Cie Morgan, Charles Allen.
The public face of an enigma is one in which all who profess they knew the figure well, actually understood him even less than the occasional fan.
There are truly few to whom the historians of the 20th Century will look back upon with more than just an objective eye, Neil Armstrong’s courage will be one, the damnation of Hitler will rightly be another, one to whom the vilification will be forever sealed, and arguably in the world of entertainment, Elvis Presley will be another, and yet to look at the latter two we must carefully consider the part that others played in shaping their life, the sense of enabling that forced Europe to confront itself in a wasted war in one, and in the other the power of one man over another’s life in show business.
Whilst the two men, the dictator of Nazi Germany and ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker would not normally be drawn in the same breath, the parallels are clear, they are observed, and whilst focusing the direction of the film Elvis on the charismatic showman, Baz Luhrmann draws upon the control, the manipulation, the near psychological, emotional emptiness offered by words and deeds of the problematic Tom Parker in near equal effect, just out of sight, just out range, but nevertheless as a malevolence, a man to whom power was all consuming of he meant he got his pound of flesh of the rising star of Poet War America.
Elvis had his demons, but they were bought on by a machine comprising of a generation of lawmakers who were consumed by a kind of hate for anything they believed didn’t sit with the version of what modern America should be, by hangers on, and by Colonel Tom Parker, and the extravagance in which Baz Luhrmann shows this to the audience is more than just colourful intent, it is a damnation to a dream of the individual, that money is truly more than evil, it is all that corrupts the soul and makes a person base.
The biopic is heavenly flavoured with Elvis’ music, the poor upbringing, the monumental sadness of losing his beloved sister, and also the mystery of the man possessed it seems by the idea of living two men’s lives in one lifetime.
The music, the colour, the beauty of bringing Black American music to the forefront of the national consciousness, Baz Luhrmann, Austin Butler as the rock ‘n’ roll rebel turned national icon, and Tom Hanks in a crucially unspoilt view of Elvis’ manager, is fundamentally brilliant, the sheer scope of story-telling in bringing the tale of the impoverished boy’s transformation to man, enigma, national treasure, and finally, bitterly, regretfully, the epitome of squandered genius, is to applauded fully, loudly, and with true heart.
The multi-layered Elvis biopic is both a charming reminder of the brilliance of the musician/performer/entertainer, and a frightening discourse on the nature of manipulation, of how just one person can destroy what they profess to love as they sell, piece by damned piece, that which they sought to control. A film of ingenious brilliance, arguably Baz Luhrmann’s towering offering to the film lover. Ian D. Hall