EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert Review

NEON

Director Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, a documentary, uses never-before-seen footage of Elvis Presley unearthed from MGM Studios’ archives.

Luhrmann, who directed the 2022 biopic Elvis film, obtained film negatives containing around 35 hours of footage of Presley. The process of unearthing the footage was the most impressive thing about the film.

Before the screening at TIFF, Luhrmann noted that there was such an oversaturation of media discussing Elvis’s story, but hardly anything out there discussed Presley’s point of view. EPiC was intended to fill this gap.

Viewing long-lost footage of one of rock’s most iconic artists sounds like it would be a remarkable experience for any fan. The words “My side of the story” echoed from Presley’s voice, near the start of the film. Given that the team recovered 40 minutes of interview footage, I thought it was going to be interesting to hear this one-of-a-kind, fresh perspective on Presley’s career.

However, the interview clips chosen were par for the course. But don’t worry, the audience learned a lot of new information from Presley’s quotes. 

He explained that he likes to dance and becomes out of control on stage, that as a kid he was given the choice between a bike and a guitar (shocker, he chose the guitar!), and he enjoys seeing fans go crazy at his shows.

Luckily, fans only had to wait 56 years for this information.

I find it hard to believe there weren’t stronger quotes from him in the 40 minutes of interview footage recovered. Regardless, making the film out to be an exceptional documentary containing Presley’s “side of the story” was an inapt judgment.

The editing was not impressive. While I have no idea how hard it may have been to color-grade the original footage, it was done poorly.

For large portions of the film, Presley’s skin appeared pink, and the colored stage lights seemed to hardly reflect on him, despite it being evident that they were directed at him. This just left a weird, washed-out cast of whatever color the lights had originally been on his skin.

I would have much rather watched the film untouched, or in black and white– if that’s how it was originally shot.

The bulk of the film was concert footage. A very small portion included footage of Presley in the studio, a clip of him at a press conference, and him with his family. 

Sure, it may have been “never-before-seen,” but maybe it should have stayed that way. The footage wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Much of it contained him performing songs that have been documented countless times before, or him unamusingly messing around.

As for the press conference clip (which was not a part of the long-lost footage), Presley received the question, “What is your opinion of war protesters, and would you today refuse to be drafted?” Presley answered, “Honey, I just tend to keep my own personal views about that to myself. I’m just an entertainer and I’d rather not say.”

While predictable for the time period, the boomers and the silent generation sitting around me (and occupying most of the theatre) ate this up, as if rock n roll hadn’t always been political. Not to mention, playing it safe and pushing politics aside when most of your success comes from capitalizing off of black artists’ work, in a genre deeply interlinked with the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement, was questionable. It was a lousy editing choice to portray these beliefs as noble within the film.

Additionally, when the clips of Priscilla and Elvis showed up, the crowd was just as elated. Apparently, everyone's minds were wiped of the recent film Priscilla, which brought to the mainstream the story of how she had been groomed by Presley. 

Celebrating both of these things seemed trivial, and perhaps, it was not the film we needed in today's day and age. Certainly, this crowd didn’t have the mentality of “separating the art from the artist.”

For the boomers and the silent generation who have not yet discovered how to make a YouTube playlist, this film was great. Otherwise, EPiC is absolutely not worth your time. It adds nothing new to the conversation, and there are plenty of Elvis films and documentaries out there that are far more fascinating.