Divided critics and a 12-minute standing ovation for Elvis in Cannes
The long-awaited biopic of Elvis received a thunderous 12-minute standing ovation, the longest at this year’s festival so far. austin butlerthe young actor who was assigned the difficult task of playing Elvis Presley, was the main focus of this acclaim. With eyes full of tears, the young man hugged Priscilla Presley (who was equally thrilled), and had flown to the south of France to give her blessing for the film about her late husband.
The Warner Bros. musical drama had Cannes spontaneously erupting in applause as Butler recreated some of Presley’s biggest hits, including “Jailhouse Rock”, “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Suspicious Minds”. Elvis was without a doubt one of the biggest titles screened at Cannes, with a star-studded carpet that included Sharon Stone, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Diplo, Jeremy O. Harris and the Italian rock band Maneskin.
In any case, it is worth clarifying that the production of the director of Moulin Rouge! was not part of the Festival’s official competition, so it has no chance of winning the Palme d’Or. With the audience still standing, Luhrmann hugged his cast members and was clearly moved by the warm reception the audience received. gave to his film. Taking the microphone as he wiped tears from his eyes, he recalled his first experience in Cannes for Strictly Ballroom.
“I had a bit of an epiphany because 30 years ago my wife and I made a little movie called ‘Strictly Ballroom,’ but in our movie we had a presenter who gave us a screen, saw the movie and left before it was over and said : ‘That’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen and you’ve ruined the career of Pat Thomson,’ who played the mother.”
“Anyway, we went up the coast and I had really long hair and we were staying in a trailer park and I was like, ‘This movie thing is never going to work,’ so I started shaving my hair off. And I got a phone call and it was a French guy, and I was holding a tin bucket over my head because the night before someone had been killed by a coconut that fell out of a tree. And on the phone, a voice said: ‘Hello, my name is Pierre Rissient, I am from the Cannes Film Festival, we have seen your film and we would like to offer you a screening at 12 o’clock at the Palais,’ “recalled the director .
Luhrmann’s films are often over-the-top and outlandish, which is exactly the vibe Warner Bros. brought to the world premiere of Elvis. Still, Luhrmann’s vision tends to be divisive among critics, with the sole exception of the world-acclaimed Moulin Rouge!, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Still, Presley’s film seems to continue in the Luhrmann tradition, for despite his impressive applause, the film divided critics.
With 13 reviews uploaded on the review collection platform, Elvis he currently has an average of 61 out of 100. “Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is a fast-paced and sometimes overpowering chronicle of the rock icon. Austin Butler is stellar as Elvis, giving it his all in every scene; truly, a star is born here” , opined Jim VejvodaI of IGN Movies.
“A dazzling paint-splattered evocation of myth and man, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis does a great job of bringing us closer to what that revolutionary moment must have been like,” he writes. Entertainment Weekly. “The deliriously horrible Baz Luhrmann biopic is Bohemian Rhapsody at 4,000 MPH,” noted David Ehrlich of IndieWire.
However, Ehrlich’s critique was attractive to many, also recalling the division of the critics on the biopic of Freddie Mercury, mentioned in your review. Despite the abundant amount of negative reviews that the film led by rami maleck received, managed to become a phenomenon for audiences, something that will surely happen with Elvis.
If you think you’re the kind of person who might enjoy a mix of an Elvis song with “Backstreet’s Back” and “Toxic” of Britney Spears, or Doja Cat rapping over “Long live Vegas”or “the most visually anarchic Hollywood movie since the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer in 2008,” the biopic of Baz Luhrman It’s probably your kind of movie.
Of course, there was a lot of criticism in favor, in addition to the three members of the iconic singer’s family: Priscilla PresleyLisa Marie Presley and his granddaughter Riley Keough. Lisa Marie called the film “nothing short of spectacular,” adding, “Austin channeled and embodied my father’s heart and soul beautifully. IMHO his performance is unprecedented and finally done with precision and respect. If he doesn’t get an Oscar for this, I’ll eat my own foot.”.
Keough told Variety at Cannes that he started crying within the first five minutes of watching Elvis, adding: “I could feel how much work Baz and Austin put in to try to get it right. That immediately moved me… I was honored that they worked so hard to really capture his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.”
Elvis marks Luhrmann’s first feature film since The Great Gatsby 2013 film, which also had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and which was also divisive for the bizarre combination of the filmmaker’s style with the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Austin Butler stars in the title role of Elvis, alongside Tom Hanks as Elvis’s infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Yola Quartey and Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Olivia DeJongewhich interprets Priscilla Presleycomplete the cast of the film.
Warner Bros. will release Elvis in US theaters June 24reaching the rest of the corners of the world in the subsequent weeks.
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