Paul Schrader once told me (it must have been when we had drinks at the Marriott during Cannes 2016) that if he weren’t a filmmaker then he’d probably be writing a movie blog with a couple of capsules and full-length reviews a week, a la Pauline Kael and The New Yorker.
Well, that’s kind of what he’s been doing on Facebook. For the past few years, Schrader’s been playing movie critic with the latest releases. His movie opinions are fantastic and indeed Kael-esque in their frankness. Paul, my invitation is still open for you to contribute to this site every few weeks…
His latest capsule is a pan of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis”:
“Full of filmmaking bravado and cineaste chic, but what struck me most was a top-to-bottom unreliability. The film was so manufactured and massaged at the storytelling level that it was difficult to believe any of the events actually happened as presented. And therefore difficult to emphasize.”
I found Luhrmann’s “Elvis” to be a notable pop-art fever dream. I don’t necessarily think Luhrmann was trying to find any kind of realism as much as just attempting to depict Elvis’ immense role in American pop culture via zooms, pans, jumpcuts, frenetic editing etc.
Luhrmann didn’t give Austin Butler’s performance much room to breathe, but maybe that was the point, Elvis’ life, starting with the Sun Sessions, turned into a relentless speed train that passed through in the blink of an eye, next thing you knew, he was in Vegas, 50 pounds overweight, eating his peanut butter, honey and bacon sandwiches and shooting his hotel room’s television set with a sawed off shotgun.