Baz Luhrmann’s biopic is a whirlwind of glitter and extravagance, writes George Dunbar…
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Helen Thomson
Running time: 159 minutes
Director Baz Luhrmann has taken a bold, unashamedly contemporary approach to making a movie about the life and times of Elvis Presley. Elvis is a cultural icon of the mid-20th century and is often labelled the King of Rock and Roll, and this is because of his being something of a founding father of the movement. I am a fan of Elvis and am fascinated by his life story and the music and culture of his time, so I knew there was much that needed to be included in the movie and was anxious that key things be included in it. Indeed, a huge amount is packed into the two and a half hour run time, in a relentless, high-energy story of a dramatic time of huge cultural shifts that follow Elvis’s rise from poverty to a glamorous showbiz career, till his death in the 1970s.
In portraying the entire lifespan of an individual, I think it is important to have a "take" on that life, and interpret it to decide what is most important to focus on to make a coherent story. Luhrmann has a very strong take on the life of Elvis; he chooses to present it through the lens of the complex relationship between Elvis and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. This relationship was very much an archetypal story of the endless tension between the businessman and the creative artist. The businessman is always out to make money and do what is tried and trusted, while the artist is always trying to take risks and try new things. The movie tells the story of the constant push and pull between the Colonel wanting to take low risk, high reward approaches to things, while Elvis wanted to make bold new gestures. The movie cleverly compares this relationship with the similar tension in the broader culture of the time; between those who wanted to take society in new directions versus those who had backward and often racist views. Elvis’s life is very much used as a canvas to explore America from the 1950s to 1970s.
Luhrmann has a strong ability to give a sense of time and place, creating a sense of being transported into different worlds. He shows the poor southern neighbourhood where Elvis grew up, and all the sounds, clothing and sights of that time. He then puts this into sharp resolution by contrasting it with the glitter and glamour of a Las Vegas stage in the 1970s. The movie felt like being taken by the hand by Baz Luhrmann himself and being shown Elvis’s world and that time period. As an audience, we are shown the shocked and amazed expressions on people’s faces in the 1950s in reaction to Elvis’s dance moves, which are not considered shocking by contemporary standards.
Austin Butler does an amazing job portraying Elvis, especially embodying the energy of his 1950's performances that were truly a spectacle to watch. Elvis's appearance is so well known that it was always going to be a very difficult task for an actor to portray him. Austin Butler had an extremely difficult and pressurised task to portray Elvis, what with there being so many other impersonators of Elvis out there, and I think he pulls it off very well. All the outfits used in the movie were exact replicas of outfits Elvis wore in real life and this was especially amazing to see in high definition and full colour, as opposed to the grainy black and white images we have of him from the 1950s. The scenes of Austin Butler recreating footage of Elvis from the Vegas stage in the 1970s feel a little unnecessary since we can watch footage of the real Elvis from that period in high quality anyway, but showing his whole career is important for the story.
By turning the dials up to maximum, we get an exaggeration of the culture and styles of the time and a bold picture of a highly talented artist who died too soon
I found the portrayal of the 1950s to be the strongest part of the movie, because it really engaged with the specific culture and aesthetics of the time. It was important to show how Elvis was inspired by other musicians of the time, especially Black musicians who were oppressed by the laws and attitudes of the time. The movie glows with the aesthetics of each time period, what with the sound of the old car engines, the big wing collared shirts, the greasy pompadour hair, flared trousers and the buzzing, flickering yellow bulbs of the stage lights.
The movie is a carnival ride. It has a relentless pace to it, with little pauses for breath. It felt like it was “all over in a flash”, as Elvis says in the movie. Like a rollercoaster ride, it goes over lows and high points in Elvis’s life at great speed and I felt that some of the more emotional moments were skimmed over a bit because of this. This is partly because the director seemed to want to cram as much of Elvis’s life into the movie as he could. It also seems to have been a stylistic choice to reflect the carnival ideas that Elvis’s manager had in mind for Elvis’s career. It is pointed out that the colonel had his background in the carnival scene and the conversion of Elvis into a walking carnival attraction by the colonel is shown very clearly in the movie. Tom Hanks does an amazing job portraying a man who is something of a questionable, shady character, who exploits Elvis at numerous times in the movie, as well as helping his career.
Fundamentally, the movie seems to be all about excess. It is hugely entertaining to watch and definitely lives up to the gold strewn, glitzy posters that advertised it. The director has an excessive style that suited Elvis’s own personal excessive style; with dramatic camera shots of big sideburns, Napoleon size collars, white flared jumpsuit outfits with firework designs, gold demon eye shaped amber lensed sunglasses and exaggerated power moves. We see Elvis’s big lifestyle – the drug taking, and his insatiable appetite for excitement and for the latest fixation. The film presents this personality, combined with the colonel’s equally extreme approach to business, as both the making of Elvis’s success as well as the road to his ultimate downfall.
The movie feels like watching a huge, long rock concert because of its frenetic pace, fast camera work and upbeat music soundtrack. It is both exhilarating and also somewhat exhausting to watch. By turning the dials up to maximum, we get an exaggeration of the culture and styles of the time and a bold picture of a highly talented artist who died too soon.
Did you know? Popstar-turned-actor Harry Styles was in the running to play the King, but was ultimately rejected by Luhrmann on the basis that “he’s already an icon”. The director went on to say that Austin Butler was “almost born to play [the role],” explaining that an audition tape of Butler performing Unchained Melody helped to seal the deal.
Elvis is currently showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 7th July
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