It seems that The King is indeed back, with Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy biopic Elvis receiving positive buzz from its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival.
Critics are raving about Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis at Cannes. The film received a 12-minute standing ovation, which is pretty common for Cannes titles, but still an impressive amount of time for people to clap their hands together over a film.
Austin Butler’s performance has been praised almost universally. Butler, who has made an impressive career on TV but has somewhat struggled to break past small supporting parts in feature films, has been described as “star-making” and “charismatic” as Elvis Presley. Big up for a guy who’s biggest role to date was getting his testicles eaten by a dog in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood.
People were less unified on Tom Hanks’ performance with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “arguably the least appealing performance of his career.” As seen in the trailers for the film, Hanks is donning a fat suit – which alone is problematic – and a fake nose while speaking in a thick Southern drawl that seems to slip into a caricature territory.
Luhrmann’s eclectic style isn’t for everyone, but the reception of Elvis suggests that this might be his most accessible film. The Times hailed it as “Baz Luhrmann’s Best Film Since Romeo + Juliet” which is high praise, considering the film’s cult status.
Elvis is in cinemas on June 24, so we don’t have to wait too long to see what all the fuss is about. We also included the Elvis trailer on our ever-growing list of the best film trailers out now.
