Going to the movies this weekend? cinebeth reviews Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis' unconventional biopic and the horror film 'The Black Phone.'
This weekend audiences can choose between Baz Luhrmann's"Elvis" or Ethan Hawke in the horror film"The Black Phone."Baz Luhrmann, the filmmaker who reimagined movie musicals with both"Strictly Ballroom" and"Moulin Rouge," directs his attention to the life of Elvis Presley for his latest film. But don't let the title"Elvis" fool you, it is not really just about Elvis.
But that is just the kind of warped perspective that inspires Luhrmann. It is a perspective that allows Luhrmann to also offer up a portrait of America and showbiz as a kind of sidebar.Tom Hanks plays Colonel Tom Parker and Austin Butler is Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's"Elvis." Luhrmann's film is about capturing the essence of Elvis through evocative and impressionistic flurries. The first half of the film boldly and breathlessly shows how Presley burst on the music scene and shook, rattled and rolled his way into stardom. We share Parker's excitement at seeing Presley unleash his talent on an unsuspecting audience and then later defy authorities during a concert where he was forbidden to wiggle even a finger.
Hanks, with an annoyingly inconsistent accent, grows wearisome as Parker, but Butler’s Elvis is a spellbinding creation that you can’t take your eyes off of. He gives us the rebel, the bad boy and the icon, but also glimpses of the artist and the man. It is an uncanny embodiment of Elvis. But ultimately, as with all of Luhrmann’s films, it’s all about style. The first half of the film burns with a visual intensity that’s as irresistible as Elvis was.
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