'Elvis' - Baz Luhrmann

Before sitting down at The Ritzy cinema in Brixton I thought to myself: “Austin Butler? The blonde, shaggy-haired, surfer-type Californian? Playing Elvis? Surely not.” I’ve grown up with Elvis's music thanks to my dad. Every holiday he’d bring a CD of Elvis's greatest hits to accompany our rental car road trips and we’ve spent countless evenings as a family scrolling through live performances on YouTube; admiring the voice and charisma of this iconic performer. So like many people, I was unsure if Butler was the right casting choice. But I mean… who am I to question Mr Baz Luhrmann really - I am more than happy to eat my own words. Austin Butler completely and utterly lived and breathed this role. He became Elvis.

For nearly three years he worked incredibly hard, studying Presley so meticulously and so intently; not just as a performer but as a human - a son, a father, a husband and friend. Butler never once stepped foot into the realm of impersonation or caricature (where it’s potential is so high) - instead he showed us Elvis as a person rather than the enigmatic icon we all know. He allowed us, as the audience, to connect with him and understand who Elvis really was. All the work that went into developing his role as Elvis continues to show as he still can’t quite shake the deep vocal reach and Southern accent long after wrapping. 

Now, if anyone is going to direct a biopic about Elvis - a man whose name instantly triggers images of sparkling bright lights, eccentricity, iconic outfits, a life full of soul, passion, colour and tragedy - it has to be Baz Luhrmann. Fast-paced action, swift camera movements, news soundbites and sharp cuts spin us through years of Elvis Presley history in such a short space of time, while the emotional moments completely slow down the pace and encourage us to really pay attention. 

One scene that I particularly connected with takes place in a dark suite at the International Hotel as Elvis and his father come to terms with a cancelled world tour. Their conversation is poignantly accompanied by the haunting echo of ‘Suspicious Minds’ floating eerily through the atmosphere. Moments like this connect the audience to the characters on a personal level because the scenes juxtapose, stand out and take their own place away from the eccentricity and fast-paced rhythm of the film. You can’t help but feel true human empathy for Elvis and his dream to “fly away”, a desire that has been crushed by the overbearing weight of his manager’s selfishness and gambling addiction. It’s an incredible balance that allows the film to whisk its audience through what we think we know about this man’s life just to delve deeper into the truth of himself as a person and the abuse he suffered at the hands of his manager.

To begin an Elvis biopic not with Elvis himself but with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), is incredibly powerful. In this opening sequence he claims that “people think I killed Elvis… but I made Elvis”, and just like that you are invested, you want to know more. Why are we listening to his side of the story? Is he trustworthy? Will his actions be reasoned? Hanks plays this extremely slimy, selfish, yet genius of a businessman with so much conviction, you can’t help but hate him (as hard as it is to hate Tom Hanks). With every decision affecting Elvis, there is a benefit for him; for every audience wowed by Elvis, it’s because it was his idea; and with each dollar Elvis makes, there’s one for him. One quote that I feel sums his character up pretty well is: “It doesn’t matter if you make ten bad decisions, as long as you make one good one.”

Throughout the film, Luhrmann and his co-writers; Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner, consciously celebrate Black music - particularly in the 50s when segregation laws remained in place and Black artists were not paid in the least the way white artists were. B.B King (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), Little Richard (Alton Mason), and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Yola) stand out in the film through their tremendous talent and pure passion for music and performing. Elvis’s initial inspiration is beautifully imagined in a scene where, as a child, he is entranced by a lonesome singer, belting out an original rendition of ‘That’s All Right’ combined with the distant voices of gospel singers in church. Elvis becomes swept up and practically taken to another realm - for Luhrmann, this is his realisation of when it all clicked for Presley. In some ways I do wish we saw more of the influence Elvis took from Black musicians, but in a film of this scale, with the broad history it covers in a short amount of time, its unsurprising that this aspect; along with other areas (including his drug-use and unfaithfulness to Pricilla), while mentioned, are still slightly skimmed over.

There is so much to say about this film. The casting is brilliant, the writing is incredible, locations, camera, sound, editing, GFX, all these separate areas play their part in the film as a whole and make it so special. It is very much a film that needs to be seen on the big screen. I couldn’t bear the thought of my dad watching this high-budget movie about one of his icons on our old TV with an outdated sound system - so I treated the parents to a trip to the cinema. And of course, it was worth it, the man loved it, and so did my mother who often welled up at scenes in admiration of the filmmaking. In fact, after my first viewing I felt a strong sensation to applaud as the credits faded in, but I stopped myself - would that be weird? Second time around as the credits began to roll, one person in the audience started to clap, encouraging the whole room to join in and applaud the brilliant filmmaking we had all witnessed together. 

As a side note to this review I would like to add that while I write about a film I like to sit in the cinematic space of the film for a few days. Gather my thoughts, assess what scenes, moments or quotes flash back to me, but I will also read and absorb other reviews. One morning on my commute to work I discovered a podcast show called River Cafe Table 4 which had an episode with Austin Butler. I don’t know if it was just the early-morning, sun-shining, summery feeling of inspiration that got to me but this is one of the most beautiful conversations I’ve ever heard. Butler speaks so eloquently about his childhood, memories he associates with food, wild travel experiences, and also shares many uplifting, inspiring, sweet stories of his time on set and his relationship with Luhrmann. At one point he describes how after wrapping the film, he and Baz played records, danced all night and then ran into the sea in the Gold Coast as the sun rose. He described how he took some time to himself in the ocean just to appreciate the moment and process the project he had been a part of. He’s an incredibly articulate man with a beautiful view of life and that’s a conversation I’m sure I’ll come back to for many reasons. I highly recommend listening to it - along, of course, with seeing Elvis on the big screen while you can!