Gotta love him: The King in ‘Elvis Presley in Concert’.
EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT **** (96 minutes) PG
As if to prove the ancient, all-too-true proverb that too much Elvis is never enough, director/showman/raconteur Baz Luhrmann follows up his triumphant 2022 biopic Elvis with a dazzling, loving, lovingly assembled bio-doc designed to please those who love Elvis.
For those poor souls who think they don’t, consider the film a dose of cinematic conversion therapy – and prepare to see the rhinestone-spangled light.
Distilled from 68 crates of footage discovered deep in the Warner Bros vaults located in the salt mines of Kansas (good for preventing the corrosive effects of moisture, apparently), Luhrmann and his crew have fashioned a portrait of Presley that is funny, spontaneous and illuminating.
With The King Himself providing the movie’s narration (thanks to a spool of rare, self-reflective audio), the film skillfully blends his backstory with remarkable footage of Elvis in rehearsal and strutting it on the Las Vegas stage.
Using the latest technology, the old footage has been brilliantly upscaled to look so sharp and luminous on the big screen you’d think it was shot earlier that day. Especially astonishing is how some of these images originated as 8mm film.
Revealing how Presley’s love for live performance was intensified after a decade of assembly-line movies (some of which were actually OK), we learn what a funny, fun-loving guy he was, often joking around and happy to make fun of himself, even with the world in the palm of his sweaty hand.
And there’s a timely treat as we see Elvis at a press conference steadfastly refusing to answer a question about Vietnam. It’s a great moment given today’s embarrassing propensity for entertainment figures to spout off about politics and social issues as though they had any influence.
The clip has been bouncing around on YouTube and X for a while – in a montage with Dolly Parton, Billy Bob Thornton and, of course, Ricky Gervais – but has added gravitas seen in this context from half a century ago.
Seems back then entertainers knew what they were best at – and stuck to it.
FOOTNOTE: After the packed Melbourne preview screening at IMAX, Baz Luhrmann was kind enough to stick around to talk about the film, which he did with his usual eloquence and humour, capping his presentation off by taking a selfie with the audience and connecting with fans. Proof positive that showmanship is in the dude’s DNA.
About to drive off to the airport for a flight to Paris as part of the film’s global release and so give Elvis “the world tour he never had” (or words to that effect), Luhrmann made the point about how important it is to experience movies in the cinema.
A noble refrain, no question, and one uttered with unimpeachable sincerity by many prominent filmmakers.
Still, it’s no secret that even if a movie goes nuts at the box office, its ultimate fate will be decided in the home market, whether seen on a giant home theatre TV, a computer, tablet or – Heaven forbid – a phone.
It’s a reality as harsh as it is unavoidable.
JIMPA *1/2 (112 minutes) MA
Largely boring, unengaging waffle about a teenage girl (Aud Mason-Hyde) who travels with her filmmaker mother (Olivia Colman) to Amsterdam to visit her ailing gay granddad (John Lithgow) to expose herself to broader perspectives about life as a member of the LGBTetc community.
Identity politics, personal pronouns, gay culture, lesbianism, transgenderism and all associated topics can make for compelling discussions and serve as the hot-button basis for drama and comedy – but not here.
It doesn’t help that the film is dominated by a colourless lead performance and gives too little screen time to Lithgow, the film’s only interesting presence. What a waste.
One of the things that render the proceedings so exceedingly dull is that the characters exist inside a cozy bubble, apparently unaffected by the challenges and demands of the outside world.
Yet, in a carefully designed irony, the piece features a running gag about the need for film narrative to contain conflict. The mother is trying to get people involved in her new project, but they all turn her down because there’s a lack of friction.
Presumably, this is intended as a clever-clever comment aimed at skewering audience expectations, but it misfires and does nothing but highlight the film’s central flaws.
With no apparent target demo in mind, chances are we’ll be regrettably chalking this up as yet another Australian film to draw a blank at the box office.
The film was directed and co-written (with Matthew Cormack) by Sophie Hyde, who has made some good films such as 52 Tuesdays, Life in Movement and Animals. She also made Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
PILLION ** (107 minutes) R
The ghastly sight of fat, ugly, middle-aged men walking about in nothing but ill-fitting BDSM gear is likely to be something you won’t want to see again – ever – after sitting through Pillion, an otherwise tepid, meandering gay sex comedy.
After being approached in a pub, shy gay guy Colin (Harry Melling) has a back-alley encounter with laconic American biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgard), a strapping, good-looking Tom of Finland-type who, after some initial frostiness, invites Colin to move in.
The arrangement is that Colin is a sort of house pet with benefits, doing chores, running errands and sleeping on the floor in between the performance of sexual services for his dominant housemate.
Colin grows to be a little less wimpy, especially at his job as a much-reviled parking inspector, but apart from that he develops little and is not all-that-interesting to watch, even when engaged in unsightly, exceedingly unerotic open-air gay BDSM nookie. (Where are municipal park officers when you need them?)
Melling was in Harry Potter (as Dudley Dursley) and did fine work in the Coen brothers’ western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (as a limbless actor). Yet while his choice to take the lead in a niche, narrowband film can be applauded as brave, his watery performance as a nervous sexual submissive doesn’t exactly breathe life into the film.
Oddly, debut writer/director Harry Lighton does provide one exceptionally strong scene that suggests how good this film could have been.
Eager to know more about her son’s mysterious new boyfriend, Colin’s cancer-stricken mum Peggy (the marvellous Lesley Sharp) has Ray over for dinner to try and suss him out.
The exchange between them is golden. One can only ponder why the film didn’t take its cue from there.
FACKHAM HALL **1/2 (97 minutes) M
There are enough decent laughs in this spotty spoof on Downton Abbey to pass muster, yet it lacks the punch, pace and cheek of the classic comedy films it strives to emulate, such as Flying High and the ‘70s oeuvre of Mel Brooks.
The austere interiors of the Fackham estate are crashed by petty thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) who falls for Rose Davenport (Thomasin McKenzie), a grounded posh lass on the verge of marrying obnoxious cousin Archibald (Tom Felton).
The gags fly low and fast for the opening innings with lots of jabs about class, privilege and inbreeding before curiously downshifting to an all-too-mannered mode.
What slows things down is that the film, for all its lurches at silliness and crudity, is shot and cut like a prestige drama rather than as a joke-driven lark.
If only the film had gone for the loopiness of parody films such as Epic Movie, Date Movie, Disaster Movie, Scary Movie, Meet the Spartans and Vampires Suck, which were quite successful though not favoured by critics.
Comedian Jimmy Carr, easily one of the best stand ups working today, is one of the film’s authors and has a small, funny role as a vicar.
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