ELVIS
Elvis Presley achieved a level of fame that goes well beyond his music. He’s more than a cultural icon—something more like a cultural given. Forget the collectibles and Vegas weddings; children know how to impersonate the man before they even know his name. Really, the story of Elvis is a story of America, so it is inherently impossible to make an adequate Elvis biopic. One level down from that goal is the challenge to merely capture Elvis as a musician and presence, which I would also deem impossible—that is, if I hadn't seen Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS, starring Austin Butler.
There's a scene in the film where we see Elvis become Elvis. The movie cross-cuts between his childhood and young adulthood, and in a spectacularly dizzying and Luhrmannian sequence of visuals and some of the best sound design I've heard in a musical biopic, the audience understands how spirituality, sex, and music culminate to create a new American “superhero”—as Tom Hanks' Colonel Tom Parker calls him. (I don't want to give too much away, but if you've seen the trailers, you've seen it.) This moment is imbued with so much electricity, emotion, and humor, but that would all be moot if it weren't for Butler's magnetism and uncanny pipes—and when it comes down to it, I seriously think this is the closest we will get to capturing the ineffability of Elvis.
On paper, ELVIS (trailer here) is pretty by-the-numbers—the modest beginnings, the rise to stardom, the descent into drugs, alcoholism, and infidelity; peppered with lines like "I wish you wouldn't drink so much" and "I need to get back to who I really am." One interesting departure from biopic conventions though is the film's POV, with the story being told through the eyes (and bewilderingly accented voice) of Presley's manager Tom Parker. Even though Parker narrates the film, the writers (Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner) pretty decidedly position him as its villain, which Hanks reinforces with a fantastic mustache-twirling performance.
Necessarily, the film addresses the racial element of Elvis' story, which is so essential that calling it an "element" at all feels like an understatement. Now, does it address this successfully? Not really. Elvis made his fortune and fame off of Black musical styles—rhythm and blues, spirituals, and gospel—and while he did publicly give credit to artists like BB King and Fats Domino, many would disagree that he was the social justice hero ELVIS makes him out to be. (Separately, Elvis’ relationship with his wife Priscilla, who was 14 at the time they got together, is also problematic—and the film pretty conveniently skirts around it.)
Overall, this movie is big and mythical and imperfect, just as Elvis was. Luhrmann has a unique ability to deliver camp without irony, which could not be more fitting for the bedazzled legacy of one of the most famous performers of all time, and Butler has somehow managed to embody him through those soulful eyes, or even a chuckle or flick of a mic wire. ELVIS may be thematically overambitious, but it’s viscerally exquisite—so get yourself to a theater asap.
—Alicia Deveraux, Development Assistant
