by A.J.
Best Pictures #88: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“We are the same, you and I! We are two odd, lonely children, reaching for eternity.”
Even before the movie actually begins we see the Warner Bros. logo made of shiny gold and encrusted in shimmering jewels. This sight makes sense given that you are about to watch a biopic of Elvis Presley. It also makes sense because you are about to watch a movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. It’s no surprise that the king of rock and roll and the king of cinematic spectacle are a perfect match for each other. Luhrmann's maximalist, bombastic style hits or misses depending on the movie and, more importantly, the viewer. So, in spite of, and because of, all the flaws, strange choices, inexplicable and inconsistent motifs, frenetic montages, and over the top performance and sequences, this turns out to be an incredibly lively biopic.
As much of a central character as Elvis is his manager Colonel Tom Parker, who is essentially the villain of Elvis’s life story. There are shades of Amadeus, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Hamilton in the screenplay and structure of Elvis; like those works, in which the antagonist is also the narrator, the Colonel serves as our narrator. However, this movie uses only broad strokes to paint Elvis and the Colonel so even after 2 hours and 45 minutes we’re left with sketches instead of full portraits. As the Colonel, Tom Hanks is thoroughly enjoying his wild, strange performance. He plays Colonel Parker, under tons of makeup and a fat suit, like a Batman villain from the 1960’s TV show. The Colonel’s accent is hard to pin down—at one point in his life he claimed to be a citizen of no nation, and thus not subject to any laws—and that is merely one of the over the top elements about Hanks’s performance.
Austin Butler has a difficult task in playing Elvis. A larger than life character requires a larger than life performance, but Butler must also be the film’s emotional core. He earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for a performance that rides the line in an over the top movie but never becomes a caricature. Butler successfully makes Elvis a sympathetic person with a serious attitude for his music and the social concerns of the 1950’s and 60’s.
The attention given to comic books and superheroes and “peeping” as thematic refrains never really pays off, or adds up to anything significant though the movie returns to them again and again. The movie reaches a fever pitch as Elvis prepares for his Comeback Special. The importance to the Colonel of Elvis singing “Here Comes Santa Claus” cannot be overstated (“Here Comes Santa Claus” is said enough times to crack anybody’s sanity).
The area where Baz Luhrmann excels is using his energetic, off-the-wall style to effectively convey the “why” of Elvis’s never before reached heights of superstardom and controversy. When Elvis first performs in front of a large crowd, wiggling his hips, the girls in the audience begin to scream, both are shocked and surprised at the effect they have on each other. This is intercut with dancers in a juke joint (where Elvis first heard the song) grinding on each other to a more blues-y version of the same song. It’s blunt, but the point, well understood but unspoken at the time, is made clear. That Elvis is a white man singing “race music” (music created by black musicians in the American South), in the same style and intensity of its black creators is not overlooked.
This movie shines in its musical scenes and montages where the music and the cinematic style converge into effective, even great, storytelling. Sometimes the dialogue or dramatic scenes in between feel like filler until the next lavish music sequence. That the music sequences are at times a more effective storytelling device than the dramatic sequences is not necessarily a negative, but it makes the movie feel uneven, especially as the runtime drags on.
Perhaps the most significant achievement of the film, of its screenplay, direction, performances, is showing how Elvis Presley was caught, and in many ways trapped, in an abusive relationship with Colonel Tom Parker. That the Colonel took advantage of Elvis financially, and provided drugs to keep Elvis awake and performing is sadly not a surprise. What this film does is show the human side of this exploitation. The most emotional scenes come when Elvis seems on the verge of breaking with the Colonel only to go back. In this way the fun, campy biopic is also a tragedy. With his grandiose, baroque style, Luhrmann is able to portray so many different aspects of Elvis’s story and his undeniable long lasting influence.
Nominees: Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick, Schuyler Weiss, producers
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Screenplay: Baz Luhrmann & Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner; story by Baz Luhrmann and Jeremy Doner
Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge
Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, Bazmark Films, The Jackal Group
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 24th, 2022
Total Nominations: 8, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actor-Austin Butler; Cinematography-Mandy Walker; Costume Design-Catherine Martin; Editing-Matt Villa, Jonathan Redmond; Production Design-Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Beverley Dunn; Makeup and Hairstyling-Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, Aldo Signoretti, Best Sound, David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, Michael Keller
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