THE STORY – Baz Luhrmann returns to the subject of his most audacious film. Free of contemporary interviews with experts, critics, or other stakeholders, the film is propelled by recently discovered archival footage shot at the beginning of the famed performer’s Las Vegas residency. Originally intended to last a few weeks at the International Hotel, the 1969 engagement was shockingly lucrative, and stretched on for over seven years.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Baz Luhrmann (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 96 Minutes
During his era, Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant much to many from the generations born after The Beatles. When rock music shifted to writer/performers following the lead of Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Brian Wilson – and for other myriad reasons connected to Presley’s own shifts in fortune and managerial missteps – it was those following on from Beatlemania and the Woodstock-era that shaped for decades this mode of popular music. Yet following his famous ’68 “comeback” special, and the storied residence in Las Vegas, Elvis thrilled fans with his high energy antics, seductive stylings, and sweaty jumpsuits. While punk rock was being birthed, prog-rock was reaching for new modes, and metal music was being forged, a rhinestone-festooned, custom TCB gold sunglass-wearing icon was playing his hits and kissing the girls in the front row to an adoring crowd at the International Hotel and Casino on the North end of the strip.
Baz Luhrmann, along with his long-time collaborator and editor Jonathan Redmond, have crafted an absolutely sublime celebration of Elvis at this late stage in his career. Drawing from over 60 hours of concert footage dug out from an archive buried deep in a mountain, and with an excruciating, multi-year project to re-synchronize sound to picture, the so-called King has never looked more royal. Comparisons to Peter Jackson’s equally extraordinary “Get Back” project are obvious, but the fact that one of the songs performed includes a mashup incorporating that titular Beatles song along with Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s “Little Sister” provides another more textual connection between the two mega projects.
Elvis was always an interpreter of songs rather than a craftsperson, emerging from an era where the pros wrote the songs and the legends took to center stage to perform. This is how the likes of more contemporary tunes like Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” composition are allowed to shine in a slightly oleaginous but nonetheless genuine, prayerful take by Presley. Classic tunes and torch songs are performed throughout, and an electric “Suspicious Minds” displays the man’s almost manic energy, giving his all to make his audiences enthralled.
Even those even tangentially aware of the man know about his performance antics, from the swinging hips of his early stages through to the karate chop antics of later years. Luhrmann’s earlier contribution to revitalizing Elvis’ stature in popular culture did wonders in displaying the man’s charisma, and there are times where one is reminded about just how exceptional Austin Butler was in “Elvis” when wearing the pantsuits. Even an actor with the physical gifts of Butler pales in comparison to the electric, almost feline beauty of young Presley. With the restored footage, his smile, glinting eyes framed by long eyelashes, and swagger provide an amplified view of why so many fell so hard for the very spectacle of the man when seen on person, on TV, or on the big screen.
Yet the most powerful thing that “EPiC” does (similar, again, to some of “Get Back’s” most powerful revelations) is exposing the pure musicianship of the man. Backstage moments where the band is working up arrangements are truly exceptional, as we witness the monster players under the guidance of legendary performer and producer Joe Guercio re-craft the songs under Presley’s active contribution. We’re witness to several miscues and goofs, all in the process of rehearsing for perfection, and these moments both humanize the man and also speak to his far more sophisticated musical mind than many may attribute.
Similarly, Luhrmann and Redmond have gone to great lengths to ensure that this is Elvis himself telling Elvis’ story. Audio recordings of the man, often unguarded and self-critical, are interspersed with the same level of editorial skill as the many musical sequences. The result is an intimate portrait unlike any other, providing a perfect introduction for those unaware of anything save the broad strokes of the man’s career, but equally providing many in depth ruminations (capped with extremely clever visual pairings) to evoke the triumphs and travails of the man’s time on Earth, which will surprise even the most die hard fans.
The project could have simply been a restoration of the two concert films that make up the bulk of the footage, just as would have been the case with the original “Let It Be” film. Instead, like with Jackson’s epic telling, Luhrmann and Redmond have amplified the footage into something far more extraordinary than “merely” the amazing concert performances. “EPiC” dives as deeply into the man behind the stage as it does to the one prancing in front of the crowds, and it’s this magical combination that makes this easily one of the most thrilling, extraordinary musical films of this era.
People were cheering between songs and dancing in the aisles during the premiere (along with the director, who joined the fray), and to see this on the big screen makes for something as close to being at the residency as is possible a half century later.
Certain to energize longtime fans and generate new ones for generations to come, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” is a masterwork of montage. It’s a definitive doc that gives the sense of how the artist changed popular music, but also about how at his core he was a man with a powerful voice and a zealous need to entertain. The King is dead, it’s true. But thanks to Baz and his team, the King is allowed to live long into the future, his crown burnished to shine just as brightly for years to come.
