Film Festivals
Elvis – Movie Review | Cannes Film Festival 2022
Baz Luhrmann, the visionary director of Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet has made his long-awaited return to the Cannes Film Festival with his highly anticipated musical biopic “Elvis.” The Australian filmmaker has had a rich history at Cannes. His breakout film “Strictly Ballroom” started as part of the Un Certain Regard selection back in 1992. He then went on to open the festival in a “spectacular spectacular” fashion with his much-beloved jukebox musical Moulin Rouge! in 2001. He then had the honour of being the first person to ever open the festival twice with his adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2013 – which received mixed reviews from critics. Since then, he’s mostly stuck to television projects such as The Get Down. It’s bonkers to think that it’s been almost a decade since the exuberant filmmaker has given us his last extravagant feature film.
Last night Luhrmann’s Elvis had its world premiere in the Grand Théâtre Lumière, where it received a 12-minute standing ovation – the longest of any film in the festival’s lineup this year. One can argue this wasn’t simply effusive adulation for the film but more of an acknowledgment of the Australian filmmaker’s grand return to the Croisette, a homecoming celebration of sorts. Because, to be honest, twelve minutes is exceedingly generous for a film like “Elvis.”
The film stars rising talent Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as the king of rock n’ roll, Elvis Presley, and Tom Hanks as Elvis’ long-time manager Colonel Tom Parker, who serves as the narrator of the film. Parker takes us on a greatest hits tour of Elvis’ life through the decades. From his humble beginnings in Memphis, to worldwide fame as a singer and movie star, to his Las Vegas residency, and eventually his tragic death – which many blamed Parker for. The film dives deep into the relationship between Presley and Parker, which went from symbiotic to toxic over the years.
From the opening shot of the bedazzled Warner Brothers logo, you immediately know you’re watching a Baz Luhrmann picture. Never one to play things safe or subtly, the entire opening sequence is quintessential Luhrmann. With frantic camerawork, crash zooms, and operatic music to boot, it’s the hyperactive style we expect from him. However, it’s not just Baz’s typical sensationalism for the sake of it; it reflects Presley’s childhood love for comic books and superheroes. Baz’s use of split screens unfolds Elvis’ childhood, though as if we’re observing it through the window panes of a comic strip. However, there’s a noticeable shift in energy shortly after a scene where we bear witness to the pandemonium that arises from the birth of Elvis’ legendary hip-wiggle. After this point, Luhrmann adopts a less chaotic approach to the remainder of the story – leaving the film feeling slightly uneven overall.
It also doesn’t help that Luhrmann and co-writers Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner try to jam every aspect of Elvis’ life into one film, even with its 159-minute runtime. The screenplay is concerned with showing all the incarnations of Elvis; the singer, the movie star, the loving son, the husband, the father, and the Las Vegas legend – and not all of them get an equal slice of the pie. The end result is a film that feels both rushed and bloated in its execution. The relationship between Elvis and his wife Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) especially is sadly underbaked. The screenplay only gives them maybe two scenes to establish an entire relationship. The rest of the time, we only really see Priscilla as a passive spectator in the audience of her husband’s concerts. So when Priscilla calls it quits on their relationship, despite terrific performances from Butler and DeJonge, there’s little emotional fallout to be felt.
“Elvis” is the next in the recent trend of musical biopics about iconic musicians that tend to generate a lot of awards buzz. In recent years we’ve had Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Judy, and Respect. All have had varying degrees of success over award season. Many pundits already see Austin Butler as a viable contender for an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Such suspicions are very much justified. Butler sparkles like a rhinestoned jumpsuit in this role as he nails Elvis’ signature drawl, cadence, physicality, and gyrating stage presence. It’s the type of transformational role of a notable figure from the entertainment industry that Academy voters and mainstream audiences simply can’t resist.
Oddly, Butler’s performance is most reminiscent of recent Oscar winner Jessica Chastain’s work in The Eyes of Tammy Faye mainly because it’s all too easy to do a caricature impersonation of someone like Tammy Faye Baker or Elvis Presley. Like Chastain, Butler manages to go beyond Elvis, “the entertainer,” and gets to the root of Elvis, “the man.” He mines moments of pathos and sympathy from the unfocused screenplay, embodying all the qualities of the entertainer but without ever crossing the line into cartoonish exaggeration. However, the same can’t be said about his co-star, Tom Hanks’ Parker, whose hammy performance as the Colonel will most likely divide audiences.
Baz’s wife, collaborator, and two-time Oscar winner, Catherine Martin, brings her lavish production and costume design work to the forefront of “Elvis.” With Elvis’ proclivity for loud, rambunctious outfits, Martin gets to showcase an array of recognizably fabulous outfits, as well as bring Graceland and the International Hotel in Las Vegas to life with dazzling awe. The soundtrack boasts a fun selection of new songs from Doja Cat, Eminem, Eurovision winners Måneskin, and numerous bangers from Elvis’ catalog, all performed by Butler himself. There’s also a surprisingly delightful mashup of “A Little Less Conversation” and Britney Spears’s “Toxic,” which is sure to remind viewers of Luhrmann’s ability to blend styles and eras of timeless music as he’s done in his other films.
Despite all of the bombastic production value leaping off the screen, “Elvis” is a mixed bag of a film from one of the most polarizing filmmakers we have working today, which is no surprise given the reception to his previous efforts. His latest is trying too hard to tell every facet of Elvis’ life, thus causing it to buckle under the weight of itself. What Luhrmann and Presley have in common is they both have a spectacular flair for showmanship, so in many ways, Luhrmann seems like the perfect filmmaker to bring the king’s story to the big screen. And while it is still a sugar-rush ride of a movie, it is quite self-indulgent at times. It would’ve felt a lot more orderly and impactful if he reigned in the focus just a little bit more. However, this is an example of a mediocre film boosted to a pretty good one merely off the sheer skill of Butler’s incredible, star-making performance. In the words of Presley himself, “Thank you, thank you very much.”
Elvis premiered out of competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Stay up to date with Luke’s coverage from the Cannes Film Festival via Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and TikTok @lukehearfield
Every year at the Cannes Film Festival, there are one or two titles that catch fire and become the talk-of-the-croisette. Ruben Östlund’s raucous Palme d’Or-winning Triangle of Sadness made the most audible amount of noise this year (justifiably so). However, another film was on the tip of everybody’s lips and became a must-see sensation; Aftersun. The feature debut of Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells screened as part of the director’s fortnight section and is the little-indie-movie-that-could of not just this year’s Cannes Film Festival but of all of 2022. This special film has captured the hearts of all those who have seen it and will continue to do so for years to come. It’s why we keep coming back to the cinema: to discover exciting new voices and be completely absorbed in a story.
What’s remarkable about Aftersun (besides this being the debut of Wells) is how unremarkable and yet utterly captivating the story is. Set in the nineties, the plot follows a young single dad named Calum (Paul Mescal) who takes his spright 11-year-old daughter Sophie (breakout newcomer Frankie Corio) on a summer holiday to Turkey – and that’s pretty much it. For a film that lacks very little dramatic tension or conflict, Wells keeps you firmly and emotionally engaged throughout the breezy 95-minute runtime.
Sometimes, the little films about everything and nothing ring true the hardest and leave audiences the most moved. Stories that aren’t particularly flashy but manage to capture the beauty within the mundane little moments of life. Aftersun is one of those movies that will leave you weeping in your seat and wanting to call your parents after you’re done. Drawing from her own experiences with her father, Wells explores the dynamics of this paternal relationship without ever resorting to clichéd domestic squabbling that you’d typically expect from a premise like this. Thanks to her honest script and the marvelous performances from her two actors, it is joyful simply watching this father and daughter duo hanging out on vacation, discussing life, romance, drugs, hopes, and dreams with such candor.
Wells crafts a dignified two-person character study that is heartwarming but tinged with sadness. Her screenplay perfectly balances the two perspectives of the relationship allowing you to empathize with both characters. Sophie represents the bliss of youth as well the excitement of pending independence. At the same time, Calum represents the melancholy of youth-gone-by. Given the relatively small age gap between the two of them, Calum is often mistaken for Sophie’s older brother. While Sophie is clearly the light of his life, the drawback to becoming a father so young is that Calum sacrificed most of his own adolescence in the process. In a very touching scene that sees father and daughter sharing one single bedspread, Calum laments to his daughter that life didn’t exactly turn out the way he wanted, but we can see he wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s an absolute lightning-in-a-bottle pairing of actors, quality writing, and beautiful direction. The chemistry they share and the magic they create you can’t fake or teach.
Mescal’s ability to show internal hardship and regret with such subtlety is the reason why he is fast becoming one of the most sought-after talents of his generation. He’s had a tremendous few years with meaty projects such as Normal People, The Lost Daughter and his other hard-hitting drama to premiere at Cannes this year; God’s Creatures. Meanwhile, Frankie Corio is a revelation as Sophie. She effortlessly commands the screen with an emotional maturity well beyond her years. You would not know this was her first time in front of the camera from watching her performance. Memorize her name now, as this girl is undoubtedly destined for stardom.
Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk director Barry Jenkins served as an executive producer on Aftersun, and one can practically feel his steady guiding hand is resting on Wells’ shoulder. Given Jenkins’ propensity for creating films that sizzle with poetic chemistry, you can see he’s passed down sage advice to Wells on how to formulate an atmosphere that’s effulgent enough to bottle. It takes most filmmakers years of trial-and-error to master what Wells has accomplished on a first try. She confidently allows the story to flow naturally with a lazy holiday pace without ever becoming stagnant. Her ability to capture a moment in time is outstanding and extraordinarily impactful. Anybody that’s ever been on a package holiday to Europe will feel an immediate kinship with her story, and those who haven’t will still feel something anyway. Her emphasis on the little details; the arcade games, evening karaoke, doubles games of pool, screaming children at water parks, and eager holiday representatives cringingly trying to get tourists to do the Macarena – it’s all so familiar and makes Aftersun such an emotionally resonant watch. She also takes some risks with her narrative structure which certainly pays off, particularly with the last shot, which is slightly abstract but will bring a tear to your eye, leaving the audience on an achingly bittersweet note. She also uses brief flash-forwards that help recontextualizes the camcorder holiday footage that bookends the entire film.
Aftersun is a little miracle of a film that marks the ceremonious arrival of both filmmaker Charlotte Wells and her young star Frankie Corio. It also features a never-better performance from Paul Mescal, which at the very least should generate some awards-season discussion for the young 26-year-old Irish actor. Thanks to Wells’ wonderfully human characters, astute direction, and stellar performances, Aftersun truly is about the little moments that seem insignificant at the time but become the precious stuff we treasure as adults. It’s the type of film we’re lucky to have in our lives as it offers the viewer a window into the soul of a sensitive and wonderful new storyteller.
Aftersun premiered as part of the directors fortnight at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Aftersun is being distributed by MUBI for theatrical distribution in UK-Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Latin America, Austria, Turkey and India. And A24 has acquired the North American rights. Stay up to date with Luke’s coverage from the Cannes Film Festival via Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and TikTok @lukehearfield
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