Rocketman. (15.)
Directed by Dexter Fletcher.
Starring Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Tate Donovan and Stephen Graham. 121 mins.
The rock star biopic is one of cinema's deadliest genres but this telling of Reg Dwight - The Rock'n'Roll years is restless and exuberant, a tale told in bold caricature and extravagant gesture: well, it wouldn't be much of an Elton John film if it wasn't. It's also shamelessly immodest. The way film has it Elton's talent is such an effortless flow of unfettered genius it's a wonder it isn't called Amadeus.
Director Fletcher worked uncredited tucking in the very straightforward Freddie Mercury biopic but here he gets to cut loose, aided by a fast and loose script by Lee Hall that is a string of liberties taken, all of them outrageous. It's a kind of glam Pink Floyd The Wall, the alienation of being a rock (more MOR really) star presented in a series of stylised musical numbers. And for all the artifice and exaggeration, it's probably a clearer and truer portrait of the Elton story than a factual, this-is-how-it-happened account of how a “fat ugly” kid from Pinner became the world's biggest rock star and nearly killed himself with drugs, sex, booze and generalised excess.
Taron Egerton is neither fat nor ugly enough to push home just how improbable a superstar he was but he can do justice to the songs and he is supported by some tremendous performances. Stephen Graham gives us a faultless version of Bob Hoskins as the first manager, while Richard Madden is an immaculately evil John Reid. With his sideburns and sharp suits, he looks like he's stepped out of a classic British gangster film, a Scottish reimagining of Get Carter perhaps.
The songs are often presented in wild set pieces, performed by the cast. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is done as an Absolute Beginners style greasers post-pub dance fight; during Elton's breakthrough performance at the LA Troubadour they come up with an elegant visual metaphor for his career taking off. It's both a cheesy and magical, which is the combination that makes the film so magical. On anyone else it would look ridiculous, but for Elton John it is a perfect fit.
Directed by Dexter Fletcher.
Starring Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Tate Donovan and Stephen Graham. 121 mins.
The rock star biopic is one of cinema's deadliest genres but this telling of Reg Dwight - The Rock'n'Roll years is restless and exuberant, a tale told in bold caricature and extravagant gesture: well, it wouldn't be much of an Elton John film if it wasn't. It's also shamelessly immodest. The way film has it Elton's talent is such an effortless flow of unfettered genius it's a wonder it isn't called Amadeus.
Director Fletcher worked uncredited tucking in the very straightforward Freddie Mercury biopic but here he gets to cut loose, aided by a fast and loose script by Lee Hall that is a string of liberties taken, all of them outrageous. It's a kind of glam Pink Floyd The Wall, the alienation of being a rock (more MOR really) star presented in a series of stylised musical numbers. And for all the artifice and exaggeration, it's probably a clearer and truer portrait of the Elton story than a factual, this-is-how-it-happened account of how a “fat ugly” kid from Pinner became the world's biggest rock star and nearly killed himself with drugs, sex, booze and generalised excess.
Taron Egerton is neither fat nor ugly enough to push home just how improbable a superstar he was but he can do justice to the songs and he is supported by some tremendous performances. Stephen Graham gives us a faultless version of Bob Hoskins as the first manager, while Richard Madden is an immaculately evil John Reid. With his sideburns and sharp suits, he looks like he's stepped out of a classic British gangster film, a Scottish reimagining of Get Carter perhaps.
The songs are often presented in wild set pieces, performed by the cast. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is done as an Absolute Beginners style greasers post-pub dance fight; during Elton's breakthrough performance at the LA Troubadour they come up with an elegant visual metaphor for his career taking off. It's both a cheesy and magical, which is the combination that makes the film so magical. On anyone else it would look ridiculous, but for Elton John it is a perfect fit.
