OSCARS 2023: Elvis (2022)

There are probably more divisive filmmakers out there than Baz Luhrmann. Yet Baz does seem to bring out extreme reactions in people. If you like his films, you really like them. And if you hate the guy's maximalist style, you really fucking hate it. That a director with such a frantic, camp-conscious style would rub some folks the wrong way doesn’t surprise me. I’m mostly a Baz fan, if not a particularly passionate one. When I read that Luhrmann's next project was “Elvis,” it seemed like a good fit to me. Elvis Presley was the most ostentatious of America’s pop icons. If anybody could capture that level of ridiculous opulence, it would be Luhrmann. What I didn't expect was Luhrmann's film becoming a critical darling too. It was so well received that it managed to scoop up eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture.

The biography is mostly told from the perspective of Presley’s notoriously duplicitous manager, Colonel Tom Parker. While recovering from a heart attack in the early seventies, Parker recalls discovering Elvis while touring the south. Presley’s music, a mix of black rhythm-and-blues and white rockabilly, as well as his sexually charged performance style, is already becoming a phenomenon. Parker quickly picks up Elvis as a client and turns him into a global sensation, to massive success and controversy. Yet Parker’s tight control over Presley’s music and image soon brings them into conflict. After Parker talks him into performing at a Las Vegas hotel, Elvis’ growing dependence on pills and poor health takes its toll. 

Unsurprisingly, Luhrmann brings his typically hyperactive visual style to Presley’s story. The film begins with a swirling montage, cutting between spinning roulette tables, Parker in the hospital, and careening shots of the Vegas skyline. This is the first of many such spinning camera movements, through the signs and casinos of the city. Luhrmann often employs colorful and divergent visual techniques. When Elvis’ fondness for Captain Marvel Jr. is recounted, comic style animation is employed. Animated credits appear on-screen during a “Viva Las Vegas”-inspired sequence that introduces Presley’s “Memphis Mafia” entourage. His residence at the International Hotel and accompanying national tours result in many frantic, split screen montages. (My favorite of which has Elvis tossing a guitar between panels.) Black-and-white handheld footage interjects during another heated performance. Pretty much the entire movie is cut like a trailer, which extends to a soundtrack that frequently mashes Presley's music up with contemporary hip-hop artists. Whether you find this kaleidoscopic style intoxicating or irritating is strictly a matter of taste. The only time I think it got really silly was during a sequence devoted to Elvis' dwindling box office success in the late sixties. But, I mean, it's Elvis. Of course it's going to be a little silly, really over-the-top, and utterly gaudy. Luhrmann's hyped-up approach fits the subject. 

Considering the obviously stylized approach the film takes to the material, it's unsurprising that "Elvis" plays fast and loose with the facts. Most of Presley's life story has faded into American folklore anyway. If anyone would've appreciate a "print the legend" approach, it's him. Thus, Luhrmann's film mostly frames Elvis' story as one of a ridiculously talented artist seeking to express himself against his manager's tyrannical control. After Parker turns Presley into a movie star and the biggest celebrity in the world, Elvis begins to bristle against the limitations placed in him. The 1968 Comeback Special is depicted as an artistic breakthrough for Presley, that allowed him to sing the socially conscious music he wanted to make. His fading years in Las Vegas become a case of Parker pushing Presley further into isolation, drug abuse, and eccentricity, that the King desperately wants to escape. While Parker is the colorful supervillain in this comic-book-ified life story, "Elvis" hits most of the beats we expect from rock star biopics. Presley is still mostly depicted as a prisoner of his own success. 

Considering his almost god-like prominence in American pop culture, so many weird details about Presley's life have trickled out over the years. Everybody has their favorite, whether it be his fondness for decadent junk food or bizarre connection with Richard Nixon. Since Luhrmann's film elevates Elvis' story to a mythic status, it doesn't get into his sleepovers with teenage girls, his voyeurism, or his uncertain politics. His marriage to Priscilla is mostly depicted as a whirlwind romance that would've been perfect if the King could've just stayed away from the pills. Presley's creepy fixation on handguns is only shown in a few scenes, while his bizarre spiritual connection with his dead twin brother only crops up a few more times. The only aspect of Elvis' freakiness that the movie devotes extended time to is his troubling relationship with his mother. Their closeness and her clinginess is a frequent topic in the biopic's early half, adding yet another element of operatic melodrama to this Greek Myth take on the rock star's life. 

Probably the most interesting part of the film is its earlier scenes, devoted to the effect Elvis' music and performance style had on the United States. Befitting such an oversized film, Presley's wiggling hips are depicted as bringing young women practically to the point of orgasm. The effect his sashaying pants had on the country is played for over-the-top comedy, the attempts to stem Elvis' gyrations leading to the movie's most amusingly absurd moments. Presley's place in America's racial history is also given a lot of attention. The debt he owed to black artist is foreground, as is his desire to boost them. Once the movie gets to Presley being tears over Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy's deaths, it's maybe taken a need for relevance to far. Yet showing anti-Elvis hysteria as mostly fostered by racist old white men terrified of segregation, race-mixing, and young women sexually expressing themselves is astute. 

There's literally an entire industry of Elvis impersonators out there, which means cinematic Elvii are held to a higher standard. Admittedly, former Disney Channel star Austin Butler does an uncanny job of adapting the King's mannerisms and accent. Make-up pushes Butler into looking just practically identical to the real thing, while a savvy mixture of Butler's own singing and Presley's voice nicely captures the real singer's sound. Butler doesn't just do a tip-top impersonation but always gleams the inner soul of this larger-than-life figure. Despite all his fame and success, his Elvis is an insecure, neurotic fellow with countless hang-ups and a child-like naivety that never really went away. It is, I must say, a star-making performance. While Butler totally absorbs himself in the role, Tom Hanks plays Colonel Tom Parker as a cartoonish figure with a bizarre accent. His constant mention of "snow jobs" is amusing and Hanks - also aided by considerable make-up - adds as much sleazy, manipulative menace to the role as possible. Such a ridiculous approach absolutely fits the movie's flamboyant style. Hanks is the perfectly oversized villain for a story of such garish magnitude. 

Ultimately, Luhrmann's "Elvis" is a highly entertaining tribute to that most distinctly American of musical icons. The breakneck pacing makes the two and a half hour runtime sail on by. Like Luhrmann's best movies, it's an addictive sugar rush that leaves the viewer thoroughly buzzed. If the film can't quite capture the complexity of such a divisive real life person, it's not really a flaw. This isn't a warts-and-all biography. Instead, it's a lavish homage that drapes itself in the fashion and exuberance of its subject matter. (Those disappointed by the movie's treatment of Priscilla will get a second chance when she gets her own biopic later this year.) If you're willing to go along for the ride, with just the right amount of detachment from the material, you'll probably have a good time. I don't know if it's Best Picture material exactly but it is a highly entertaining slice of campy show biz glory. [7/10]