Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

A smooth soundtrack of sadness…

I’ll be honest here. Prior to watching this movie, my views on ‘The King’ began with indifference and peaked at the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack.

My thoughts on the titular star, Austin Butler, on the other hand, were more spirited. I’ve seen him go from an uncredited extra to a principal cast member in several short-lived series. In short, I’ve been rooting for the kid for a long ass time, and it’s always gratifying and inspiring to see hard work pay off.

Elvis Presley was humble and naive when he started his musical journey, which thankfully didn’t come across as saccharine as that sounds in the film. A prime example is in the scene featuring his first live performance where he can’t understand why girls are going wild for his ‘wiggle’. As previously confessed, I don’t know much about the real Elvis, but for a brief moment, I felt like one of those repressed 50s teens in the audience, which is how I know that moment was perfectly executed.

The origins, rise and fall of Elvis were told retrospectively by his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) who, on his deathbed, despite being riddled with guilt, refuses to admit the part he played in Elvis’ demise.

The main topic of discussion prior to the release of Elvis was how ‘Luhrmann’ Baz was going to go. His signature overstimulating film posters told us it was going to be at least an 8/10 on the Lurhmann-meter. Spoiler alert, it was an eleven.

Throwing everything he had at this movie the ‘Luhrmann-ness’ felt sentient. At moments it pulled you away from the core narrative and begged for your attention. This was most prevalent when we flicked to the present where Colonel Parker waddled through a CGI casino in his hospital gown with his drip in tow. Controversially I was a big fan of the moments in the movie where they sampled Elvis with contemporary Hip Hop beats/artists. It felt full circle – a throw forward from Elvis’ own African American musical influence which was generally tastefully depicted in the movie.

However, despite the music, the wiggle and the phenomenal acting performances of Butler and Hanks, I left the movie feeling like my tiny heart had been cleaved from my chest. Elvis’s story isn’t a happy one, it’s a story of poverty, manipulation, entrapment, loneliness, helplessness and surrender.

Baz Luhrmann is a performer. He blinds you with costumes, glitz and the bubbled ideology of characters with perfect lives. While you sit eyes wide and mouth agape, he steals your heart with a story which is so seeped in a sadness it leaves you floored.

Elvis was everything they said it would be. As a person who wasn’t around for the true phenomenon of ‘The King’ I feel somewhat connected to those who were. Baz Lurhmann’s biopic was warm, cold, energetic and melancholic. It stays with you.