Page 23 - Boca Club News - November '22

Boca Club News, Page 23
Film Review: “Elvis”

By Nils A. Shapiro months ago this past June—is already the second highest- Max two nights ago, I keep
This newly released film biography of Elvis Presley is grossing music biopic in film history (after the Freddie asking myself, “What is it
certain to be nominated for several Academy Awards, and Mercury/Queen Bohemian Rhapsody success), having about this film that disturbed
will very likely win more than one of them. Directed by Baz already racked up $285 million in box office revenue on a me and left me in a down
Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge fame, who also co-wrote the production budget of $85 million! mood?”
screenplay, Elvis—which was released in the U.S. just five So why is it that, after having watched Elvis on HBO After all, the many
musical numbers are
uniformly sensational;
Austin Butler as Elvis is
ARCHIVE GALLERIES the Best Actor Oscar with
my bet to walk away with
a performance so perfect
that, between his facial
likeness to Elvis and his
own hip-wiggling moves, at times I had to step closer to
PAYS HIGHER PRICES FOR FINE ART AND ANTIQUES my TV set to be sure there were no editing switches going
on. Even his vocals—Butler’s own during the scenes of
Presley’s early career—are convincingly similar to the
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• Oriental Rugs • Objects of Art • Fine Crystal Presley’s voice takes over in the song performances with
• Tapestries • Sculptures • Orientalia Butler lip-syncing, but so seamlessly that it is impossible
to discern any difference.
• Fine Furniture • Bronzes • Tiffany Items But it is not only Elvis Presley’s music that enlivens
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his early childhood in a poor Mississippi family, when
they move to Memphis—young Elvis falls in love with the
We Also Purchase Men’s And Ladies’ Items Including: local rhythmic African-American music of Beale Street.
And it is how he adapts this music to his own style that is
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• Designer Handbags • Fine Modern Jewelry • Vintage Costume Jewelry The film incorporates examples of this African-
American music with a number of brilliantly staged
numbers made popular by such performers as Little
One Piece Or Entire Contents Purchased Richard, B.B. King, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and
especially Big Mama Thornton–all portrayed on screen
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Clearly, it was not the music in the film that bothered

me, nor the casting of Austin Butler in the lead role. In fact,
I ordered the soundtrack CD the very next day, which had
CASH 561-498-7536 COURTEOUS immediately reached top spot on the soundtrack charts.
PAYMENTS IN HOME But the more I thought about it, I realized that—
UPON REQUEST SERVICE shockingly, to me—it was the casting of the always reliable
Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager.
Parker had literally been a carnival “huckster” when
he discovered the as yet unknown young Elvis singing,
with his already trademark wiggling moves, and saw the
effect and sexual appeal he had on all of the girls in the
audience. He convinced Elvis to sign him as exclusive
agent, receiving 50% of all the young man’s future career
earnings—an important coup for a man with a ruinous
gambling habit.
Parker, a man I knew little about before this film,
had obviously been rather corpulent, which made it
necessary for the make-up artists to create body and face
prosthetics for Tom Hanks that are uncomfortably jarring,
disconcerting and just don’t work. Added to that is the
screenplay’s tragically difficult-to-accept presentation of
Elvis as a completely naïve, innocent young man helplessly
manipulated by his evil, greedy, gambling addicted
manager who—in order to keep his world-renowned client
earning money—pressures him into constant, year-round
performances that leads to him getting hooked on the drugs
that eventually lead to the star’s death at the age of 42.
In between are the better-known aspects of Elvis’s
life, including Segregationist Mississippi Senator James
Eastland’s outrage over the singer’s “overtly sexual”
performances that he claims are dangerous to the nation’s
young women–a threat that leads to Elvis’s being drafted
into the Army and sent to Germany where he meets
Priscilla, whom he will later marry. (Unmentioned in the
film is the fact that Priscilla is only 14 years of age when
she starts dating Elvis.)
Despite my own misgivings about certain aspects of this
film, as described above, I should note that both Priscilla
Presley and Lisa-Marie Presley—Elvis’s and Priscilla’s
daughter—have confirmed this film’s portrayal of the kind
of man he was...and especially applaud Austin Butler’s
performance.
Baz Luhrmann’s celebrated flair for the dramatic turns
out to be a gift for us all: a final scene of the real Elvis
Presley at the end of his career, accompanying himself on
the piano for a solo of “Unchained Melody,” sweat rolling
down the now puffy features of a famous, still somewhat
handsome baby face.
My recommendation: Elvis is definitely worth your
time, even if for the music alone...and the bonus of
enjoying Austin Butler’s debut.