EPIC: Elvis Presley in concert – review
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
By Rehna Azim
No elaborate choreography, rehearsed to within an inch of its life. Just his body at one with the music. No army of back-up dancers performing acrobatics. Just that raw charisma that has still never been matched. No auto tune. No lip syncing. Just that astounding voice which, when he unleashes it on the big hits and the gospel songs he loved, causes a flurry of goosebumps on the arms moments.
And then there’s that face; the most famous in the history of rock music, up there, in many unforgiving close-ups on a gigantic IMAX screen and he looks nigh perfect in all of them.
There’s a reason he’s called the King.
As the promo for EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, says, this is more than a documentary. It’s more than a concert. It’s an electrifying experience. As Elvis himself says, in a voiceover, people can listen to music at home but when they come out to see you and they pay money for it, you have to give them a show.
So he does.
The film focuses on Presley‘s legendary Las Vegas residency in the 1970s but also features rare, unseen and beautifully restored / remastered footage from various periods of his life, plus added sound for the footage that didn’t have it. The technical expertise behind the film is of the highest calibre. The editing of the finished film is superb.
Importantly, too, for the fans, a 45 minute audio recording of Elvis talking about his life story was also unearthed and is used here as narration for the film. This adds something vital to the film because the many documentaries, books and essays that have been produced over the decades about Elvis Presley have mostly featured the words of others about him. It’s always been someone else speaking for him, whether it’s members of his inner circle, the infamous Memphis Mafia, his former wife Priscilla, his daughter Lisa Marie, friends, colleagues or hangers on, very little has been heard from Elvis himself (his manager forbade him from giving too many interviews). So, this is a chance to hear his side of the story.
If his 2022 Movie, Elvis was an opportunity for its star, Austin Butler, to channel Presley and put himself on the Hollywood A list, then EPIC is director Baz Luhrmann bringing the King back to life to go on the world tour he never did during his lifetime.
You don’t even have to be an Elvis fan to appreciate the magnificence of it all.
The colossal impact Elvis Aaron Presley had on the music scene and culture in the 1950s, has been well documented and recorded for posterity. He appears on books about the 20th century alongside the likes of JFK, Gandhi and Winston Churchill. He remains the biggest selling solo artist of all time. But modern time moves fast and live performances, however great they were, can get lost in its mists. So, Luhrmann’s commitment to not only preserving this vital slice of western music culture but sharing it with new generations (and existing fans) is to be applauded.
I saw the film on a Monday afternoon at the BFI IMAX. Considering the day and time, the cinema was pretty packed and the audience responded like they were at an actual concert. There was applause, there were cheers and I’m sure to my left there was some vigorous foot tapping and singing along to the timeless hits. The crowd was surprisingly mixed. A fair number of older people, but an impressive showing too, of young people, children of the nineties and noughties.
The 2022 biopic paved the way for this. It was a huge box office hit and in its first week on IMAX screens, this companion film to it is already pulling in big numbers before it even goes on wider release next week.
The more Baz Luhrmann films you see, the more you realise that the reason they work so well with the public is because he makes films as a fan. He may have a flamboyant, excessive film making style but under the glitter and opulence you can feel the conservative love he has for the subject of his films. That love comes across in his promotional interviews too. Baz doesn’t do anything half-heartedly. His joy in his films is infectious and such that you can’t help but get caught up in his enthusiasm.
His love and respect for Elvis was evident in the 2022 film and is equally so in this film. There’s a small but poignant segment in EPiC which displays this very tenderly. To the sound of Elvis singing Always on my Mind, the camera hones in on home video footage of his baby daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley. It’s a brief moment in the film but a sweet and thoughtful tribute.
Lisa Marie had loved the Austin Butler film. “They finally got it right”, she said. “They honoured him in every way it was possible to honour him.”
It was said at the time that, between them, Baz and Austin had given her back the father she had idolised and lost at the age of nine. How sad that she isn’t here to enjoy him on this ‘tour.’
Elvis may have left the building in 1977 (or maybe not, depending on your conspiracy theory of choice) but with this film Baz Luhrmann has brought him back on stage, where he belongs.
It’s an ‘epic’ achievement by him and a fitting tribute to the King.