Elvis
A nice 2022 portrait of The King!
Everyone knows Elvis, that’s the icon he is, but I don’t really know Elvis. His music is nowhere near the place I would go when I’m looking for something to listen to.
My image of Elvis comes from the concept of white washing that Elvis could not help but to be an influencer of and influenced by. So, I do go into this with that prejudice I must admit. The trailer does not help as I feel it was cut together to try to persuade me that I thought is wrong.
Well, I give it to the film, it’s better than the actual trailer when it comes to persuading me. I don’t know how actuate the film is outside of certain bookmarks in Elvis’ myth ( the army, the movies, the jump suits and pills), but Buz is so good at painting a visually stunning movie that looks like the longest music video in history (seriously the film is two hours and some change ) that I’m hoping it’s layout in historical events that intertwine with Elvis is accurate in its positiveness ( it’s like Eminem, who I do listen to. You can’t blame a poor white boy for being raised on rich black music and his natural ability to mimic the sound better than all the other white boys, which is what the white world wanted)
I found the good vs. evil aspect of the film more amusing than anything. You would have thought Tom Hanks was playing Thanos the way they use the narrative of Tom Parker to justify that he is no different than anyone else in the music biz who does not make music. Meanwhile the film purposely hypes up Elvis’ love of Captain Marvel Jr. (or Shazam Jr. as he would be call in contemporary times) Just to make him more superhero like as that’s the thing right now.
Overall, when it comes down to it Baz Luhrmann, fact or fiction, made a beautifully painted motion picture. Buz has a style that is very magical and musical, so it goes well for a biopic about one of Rock N’ Roll’s greatest. A little too long unless you are that into Elvis but still, I like it.
