In 2022, Baz Luhrmann made a biopic on Elvis Presley. Despite his continuing legacy in music, it is not unfair to say that Elvis is also a caricature that has been dramatized and parodied many times, as well as inspiring many impersonators of the man himself. However, the simply titled Elvis may be a bit all over the place, but was a kinetic, musical blast that allowed the Australian director to go unhinged with his style that he has defined since his 1992 debut Strictly Ballroom. Four years have passed and it seems that Luhrmann is not done exploring the “King of Rock and Roll” with EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.
Instead of another dramatization, Luhrmann’s documentary showcases the man himself via unseen footage that he originally intended to use in his 2022 film. Over the next two years, the archive footage was restored and synced to existing audio sources by Luhrmann’s team, though the director does give a special thanks to Peter Jackson, someone who is no stranger to restoring film footage with modern technology. If you have the opportunity of seeing EPiC in IMAX, it is quite the immersive experience with Elvis being projected in what looks like a technicolor musical. Along with the discovery of an audio recording of Presley talking about his life story, the documentary presents him as the narrator.
Although sadly cut short at the age of 42, Elvis did have an incredible life that has taken him in various directions, whether through the evolution of his music career or his time in Hollywood in which he was very candid about being trapped in a series of films that stuck to a formula that never showcased him as an actor. Even outside of Luhrmann’s biopic, we have had Liza Johnson’s Elvis & Nixon and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, all of which have presented different sides to the musician and not always in a positive light.
In the case of EPiC, which is around the 90-minute running time, it does touch upon aspects of Elvis from his initial controversy as a musician that led him to being drafted overseas, to his filmography and yet they are so fleeting, even his relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, who served as the second lead in Luhrmann’s biopic. Most of the running time is spent at some of his live performances at the International Hotel and a number of flashbacks that showcase his initial years and his diverse love of music help inform those performances. While Elvis does address his love for his family, specifically his mother, the documentary pays a touching tribute to his daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who also left this world too soon at the age of 54.
As 2022’s Elvis felt like the world’s longest music video that edged towards magic realism that would associate with Luhrmann’s cinema, you can see that here in the way that the director and his editor Jonathan Redmond splice the footage to the point that the film plays out like a visual poem. At its heart, EPiC works best as a concert movie that showcases what an amazing performer Elvis was, not only through his singing and sexually provocative dancing, but how playful and improvisational he was with his band and the audience. Whether on stage or behind the scenes, there is a love in performing in front of everybody as Elvis gives it all with iconic tracks like “Suspicious Minds” and “Burning Love”.
