CinemaSerf

If you enjoyed the David Bowie “Moonage Daydream” (2022) documentary, then you’ll probably enjoy this similarly constructed film that follows Elvis as he gears up for one of his residency concerts in Las Vegas. Using an engaging array of archive footage from his performances, his interviews and from some of his personal home movies we get something of the sense of the sheer charisma this man offered. There are no journalistic contributions to clutter it up - indeed the only voices that aren’t his are the ones posing the odd questions at press conferences that ask some quite salient questions of a man who was born with a glint in his eye and a pivot in his hip. Baz Luhrmann has cleverly augmented the audio of the original performances at times, notably “Burning Love” with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and “Suspicious Minds” - and the compilation style of it's editing ensuring the continuity of the song whilst we dart from one performance to another works well. Not least because in many cases it shows us a man who isn’t necessarily ageing gracefully, either! There is a minimum of distraction throughout this feature, and even if you are not the biggest fan of the man or his music, it is hard not to appreciate that he could, and did, turn his hand to virtually every genre from classical to rock and roll and even the religiously anthemic as he wowed often quite hysterical audiences of all ages and collected quite a varied selection of lingerie/headwear en route. What is also quite clear from his responses to questioning here, is that he was quite a shrewd man who knew when to play the game and also when to keep his powder dry as journalists often tried to provoke responses from him on more political matters, or to critique his movies. This man was an entertainer but he certainly was no fool, and that is well captured by these pictures. It doesn’t feature my favourite giggling “Are You Lonesome Tonight” but there is more than enough to compensate by way of enlightenment and entertainment and well done to the producers for keeping it on mainstream rather than event cinema.