Elvis sings and tells his story like never before in a new cinematic experience from visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann.
The Garden Cinema View:
Most people associate Elvis’ Las Vegas years with his later-life, drug-fuelled decline, when he seemed to become a parody of himself. Luhrmann turns to an earlier, largely unknown Vegas period, when, disillusioned with Hollywood, Elvis threw himself fully into what he loved most: live performance. Drawing on painstakingly assembled archival material from 1,100 shows (sometimes three in a single day), alongside rehearsal footage and interviews, the director sheds fresh light on Elvis’s towering talent.
Presley’s gifts as a performer - the extraordinary voice, electrifying dance moves, and animalistic magnetism - are already well known. What emerges here, however, is that he also possessed a profound knowledge and adoration for music. Deeply shaped by gospel, rhythm and blues, and folk, he rehearsed obsessively until every note was right. Equally revealing is his constant mischievousness: no rehearsal or performance passes without some clownish interruption, lending this film a sense of playful irreverence.
Abstaining (wisely) from his signature frenetic editing, Luhrmann intervenes lightly, allowing Elvis, for the most part, to speak for himself.
