by Erin Free
Worth: $19.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Elvis Presley, James Burton, Ronnie Tutt, The Sweet Temptations, Sammy Davis Jr.
Intro:
...an emotional experience of striking immediacy.
In his towering, kaleidoscopic 2022 biopic Elvis, Australian master director and famed cinematic showman Baz Luhrmann displayed an affinity for and creative connection to his subject rarely seen in biographical cinema. Though not afraid to wade into the ugliness of rock’n’roll superstar Elvis Presley’s life (the drug addiction, his dysfunctional relationships and family trauma, and especially his exploitation at the hands of manager Colonel Tom Parker), Luhrmann was unashamedly and unhesitatingly in his iconic subject’s corner. Baz had Elvis’ back.
There was no mockery in Elvis, no smugly superior cultural critique, and no winking at the audience, which is a considerable feat considering the complexity surrounding the expansive mythology of Elvis Presley. In every single joyous but dark-hued, often manic frame of the staggering biopic Elvis, the audience could tell that Baz Luhrmann was first and foremost a fan, and his love, admiration and understanding of Elvis Presley was palpable. Unsurprisingly, this was picked up by the hordes of Elvis fans that went to see the film, and Elvis stands as the best and most deeply appreciated on-screen depiction of The King, end of story…sorry, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell.
A very happy by-product of Baz Luhrmann’s huge production of the biopic Elvis is the surprise new documentary concert feature EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert, which functions as the perfect companion piece. During his research for Elvis, Luhrmann was granted access to the mythical salt mine in Kansas where Hollywood studio Warner Brothers has long stashed the outtakes from their two exceptional Elvis Presley concert movies – 1970’s Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (directed by Unsung Auteur Denis Sanders) and 1972’s Elvis On Tour (directed by Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel) – along with various other audio recordings and assorted ephemera.
Overjoyed with the wealth of previously discarded film material he found down in the mines, Luhrmann painstakingly remastered the best of the hours of material discovered, and then cut the footage together into the dynamic new cinematic experience that is the magisterial EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert. While gleefully and dustily digging around in Warner Brothers’ Kansas salt mines, Luhrmann and his team also unearthed forty minutes of deeply personal, previously unheard Elvis Presley interview footage, which the director has sensitively and incisively utilised to construct the narrative backbone of his new film, an often head-spinning and profoundly engaging meld of heartfelt spoken word autobiography and dazzling musical performance.
For those that have seen 1970’s Elvis: That’s The Way It Is and 1972’s Elvis On Tour, the highly energised, perfectly wrought concert footage of The King in EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert will come as no surprise. Elvis: That’s The Way It Is is an especially vital document of Presley, capturing The King at his lean, leonine best when he was early into his “Las Vegas Phase”, still sexy and agile before the drugs and excessive eating began to take their cruel physical toll. Presley’s perfect voice, however, never left him, and it’s on glorious display in EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert.
Working in tandem with editor Jonathan Redmond (Elvis, The Great Gatsby), Luhrmann ingeniously creates full song performances from various outtake sources from his found material, resulting in stunning work-ups of classics like “Polk Salad Annie”, “Burning Love”, “Little Sister” and many more. Cannily thread through these heady musical set-pieces are various on-film interviews from multiple sources (often press conferences); grainy, home-movie style footage; and copious rehearsal footage of Elvis and his huge backing band getting it together in the studio.
This rehearsal footage is where EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert really sings. It’s revealing, engaging and incredibly entertaining. It’s also where Luhrmann’s striking affinity for The King once again comes into play. It’s in this material that we see a happy, vital Elvis, deeply in tune with his treasured backing musicians (all players of extraordinary prowess) and singers (each and every one profoundly gifted in their own right), locking in the pocket, laughing and goofing off, and falling joyously into the music. This is always where Elvis looked happiest, and Luhrmann really gives this material room to breathe, an opportunity a less focused and not as keenly in-tune filmmaker may have missed.
There’s plenty of kitschy, nostalgic 1970s joy to be found in EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert (Cary Grant, Sammy Davis Jr. and George Hamilton are all glimpsed backstage and in the Las Vegas casino audiences), along with moments of great humour (the livid, near-hysterical female response to Elvis – and his on-stage response to the attention – never ceases to amaze), but this is first and foremost an emotional experience of striking immediacy. Baz Luhrmann’s spiritual connection to Elvis Presley is truly powerful, and as in the mighty Elvis, you feel it in every near-evangelical moment of the masterful EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert. It’s a music movie of the very first order…all hail The King.
