What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Movies

Elvis (2022)

Baz Luhrmann releases his newest film in almost a decade, and considering that his last was The Great Gatsby, expectations were high for Elvis. The biopic delivers the kind of viewing experience that I find generally to be quite polarizing. I’ll be honest, I went into this film ready to be disappointed with the storytelling but pleased with the visuals. And that is mostly what I took away from the film.

The grand story about the King of Rock and Roll (Austin Butler) is told from the point of view of the one man who would have the most subjective take on him, his blood-sucking manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), who largely manipulated and extorted Elvis, while simultaneously selling Elvis out like a two-bit sideshow attraction. This isn’t to say that Elvis was entirely blameless in his path in life, but having started his career at such an impressionable young age, it was not surprising that he was led astray.

I found the biggest irony of the film the Colonel’s accusation to the viewers that we killed Elvis, because of our love for him. It felt like Luhrmann himself was reaching through the screen to tell us to stop engaging in fan culture. By and large, the film made it out like Elvis was a large political figure, responsible for causing riots and inciting crowds when he wasn’t shaking a leg up on stage, and that he did it all to make the fans holding “Bring back the Old Elvis” signs happy. However, I felt like he really just wanted to sing what he wanted and do what he wanted.

His descent into his various vices was also a result of too much exposure, and one of the more jarringly filmed scenes is Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) looking on while her husband kisses a string of women during a performance. It was only natural for their marriage to dissolve when you throw drugs and infidelity into the mix, and I’m surprised Elvis was so shocked his wife wanted to leave him.

Overall the film left me with a bittersweet feeling. I’m glad that the world has the music of Elvis in it,  and that I got to enjoy it for about 2 and a half hours, but it was also a bit upsetting to see a man with so much potential and life to him slowly turn into a withered husk of himself.