FILM REVIEWS SACHIN CHATTE
Film: EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert (documentary)
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Duration: 1 hour 36 minutess
Rating: * * *
Director Baz Luhrmann knows more than a thing or two about musicals, music, and Elvis Presley. The filmmaker behind Moulin Rouge (2001) returned to the King of Rock and Roll with Elvis (2022), starring Austin Butler in the lead role. While researching that feature, Luhrmann discovered miles of previously unseen footage sitting in studio vaults.
EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert is drawn from the restoration of this rarely seen material, most of it from Elvis’s concerts and rehearsals, with the occasional press conference clip. The result is a film that sits somewhere between a documentary and a concert movie.
Elvis died in 1977 at the age of 42. When someone attains the kind of cultural stature he did, there is enduring curiosity about the man behind the phenomenon. To be clear, Elvis did not write most of his own songs; he recorded what we now call cover versions. Yet he remains one of the greatest performers to have taken the stage. The way he interpreted those songs made them unmistakably his own. Whether it was ‘Hound Dog’ (first recorded by Big Mama Thornton), ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ (written and recorded by Carl Perkins), or the many blues, gospel, and R&B standards he embraced, his wide range of influences is evident throughout the film. We also see him performing songs by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel.
The end credits note that between 1969 and his death in 1977, Elvis performed around 1,100 live shows—sometimes as many as three in a single day. Yet in the footage presented here, there is no visible dip in his energy (though it is unclear whether any clips are from a third show of the day). At one point, he remarks that a live performance costs him several pounds in weight each time—a testament to the physical intensity of his stage presence.
The rehearsal footage and concert performances reveal the authority and control he exercised over his music on stage. The press conferences offer brief glimpses into his views on politics; when asked about the Vietnam War, Elvis describes himself simply as an entertainer and declines to comment further.
Most of the material comes from the concert films Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972), along with a 45-minute audio recording of Elvis reflecting on his life. Luhrmann’s Elvis, which featured Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker, explored the turbulent relationship between Elvis and his manager. Here, we glimpse Parker hovering in the background, but the focus remains firmly on the performer.
There are no startling revelations in this film. Instead, it offers the simple pleasure of watching Elvis deliver one electrifying number after another with infectious energy—from the ‘Mystery Train/Tiger Man’ medley to ‘Polk Salad Annie’. The footage is more than enough to understand why he was crowned the King of Rock and Roll. If you are already an Elvis fan, this is a treat. If you are not, you just might become one.
