BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition June 2019

MOViES|T.V.
IT’S A LITTLE
BIT FUNNY
Rocketman biopic soars high portraying
Elton John’s life story with glitter, glam and
gusto By PAT MULLEN
H
ow wonderful life is when you’re in Rocketman’s world.
This dazzling Elton John biopic should go down as
one of the great film musicals. Directed with inspired
pizzazz by Dexter Fletcher, who completed Bohemian
Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired, and played with
fiery perfection by Taron Egerton as Sir Elton, Rocketman soars.
It honours the man and his music with original, enthralling flair.
Egerton performs John’s songs with gusto while capturing his
unique pitch, but the rawness of his vocals gives Rocketman its
edge. This is a portrait of John before he’s confidently found his
voice. Egerton gives a fearlessly committed performance that
one sees too rarely in a studio film.
Comparisons to Bohemian Rhapsody are inevitable, but there
are few reasons to relate the Freddie Mercury flick with Rocketman
since they have little in common beyond Fletcher’s credit
and their award-worthy performances of rock ‘n’ roll icons. As a
film, Rocketman is far more technically accomplished and artistically
adventurous than most contemporary biopics.
Rocketman follows biopic formula by charting John’s journey
from his humble beginnings as Reginald Dwight to his mid-career
success as Elton John. It takes audiences to his home where
the young Reggie pursued music to escape his aloof mother (a
delightfully campy Bryce Dallas Howard) and absent father (a
stoically stiff Steven Mackintosh). John tells his story in retrospect
when he appears at an AA meeting in a bejewelled devil
costume and reflects on his life in a jukebox-style diary of highs
and lows.
Fletcher mixes biopic convention and musical theatricality.
Some songs appear as standard performances as John hones his
craft, but others appear as spectacular numbers that recall Julie
Taymor’s Beatles’ phantasmagoria Across the Universe with their
wildly impressionistic interpretations of rock classics. These sequences
highlight transformative moments in John’s life.
Standout numbers include John’s breakthrough performance
at the Troubadour in Los Angeles where the crowd levitates euphorically
during “Crocodile Rock.” John wrestles with his inner
demons during the feverishly staged “Rocketman” number,
which conveys his struggles with alcoholism and addiction. The
song explodes when he performs at the 1975 concert at Dodger
Stadium and gets off on his biggest high: the stage.
Even the conventional numbers let Rocketman fly as Egerton
develops his character. The film centres on John’s relationship
with collaborator Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) as their songwriting
sessions prove therapeutic for John as he heals his family troubles
and embraces his sexuality. Bell is the heart of the film as
Taupin, who is John’s rock and uses the power of music to let his
friend be free. Egerton’s performance of “Your Song” is especially
touching when Taupin presents John with the lyrics after the
singer comes out. Egerton finds John’s voice and Bell offers an
assured nod of unwavering love.
The film admirably depicts John’s sexuality without shying
away. The much-hyped sex scenes between Egerton and a terrific
Richard Madden, playing John’s toxic manager/boyfriend John
Reid, are relatively tame, but revolutionary for a studio film. The
flamboyancy of Fletcher’s film, from its fantastic numbers to its
flashy note-perfect costumes, finds the perfect marriage of subject
and style. Rocketman delivers a song straight from the heart.,
42 BEATROUTE JUNE 2019