Priscilla (2023 film)

 

Based on the memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon, Priscilla is the story of the life of the woman who would become the wife of Elvis Presley as she deals with being this object of affection for the King of Rock N’ Roll and later his wife to eventually divorcing him in 1973 in order to find herself. Written and directed for the screen by Sofia Coppola, the film is a bio-pic of sorts that explores the life of this teenage girl stationed in West Germany when she meets Presley as she would later become his wife and mother to their only child while also watch him be lost in the need to be this icon to many as Cailee Spaeny portrays Priscilla Beaulieu and Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley. Also starring Dagmara Dominczyk, Rodrigo Fernandez Stoll, Raine Monroe Boland, Emily Mitchell, Dan Beirne, Dan Abramovic, R Austin Ball, and Evan Annisette. Priscilla is a rapturous yet evocative film from Sofia Coppola.

From late 1959 the day Priscilla Beaulieu met Elvis Presley at a house party to their divorce in 1973, the relationship between Elvis and Priscilla has always been a fascinating relationship as they were two people who fell in love and wanted a life together. Yet, being the wife of the King of Rock N’ Roll was anything but a fairytale due to the constant demands of Elvis’ career both in music and film as well as an addiction to drugs, affairs with other women, surrounding himself with friends who have nothing better to do with lives, and Colonel Tom Parker’s iron grip into controlling many aspects of Presley’s career and personal life. For Priscilla, it was a tumultuous life as she is forced to watch from afar reading tabloids about Elvis’ affairs and not being allowed to have a say into his career and such. What Sofia Coppola does isn’t just showcase the rollercoaster relationship between Elvis and Priscilla but also show it from the perspective of the latter from the night they met when she was only 14 and he was 24 years old at the time.

Coppola’s screenplay does follow a straightforward narrative yet it doesn’t aim for anything conventional in playing into this relationship between this young girl whose stepfather in Captain Beaulieu (Ari Cohen) is stationed in West Germany where an air force officer offers Priscilla to come to a party to meet Elvis. It is in that party where this 14-year old military brat meets Elvis who is stationed in West Germany due to the draft as he is happy to meet someone younger who is from America. Though the idea of a 14-year old girl and a 24-year old man is definitely a bad idea for its time then and now. The fact that these are two young Americans who connect because they’re homesick while Elvis is also still grieving the loss of his mother while Priscilla definitely acts a lot more mature than most young girls. Another aspect of Presley that is unique is that he does ask the permission of Captain Beaulieu and Priscilla’s mother Ann (Dagmara Dominczyk) as he doesn’t force himself upon Priscilla as well as being gentlemanly towards her. There is a structure to the script as its first act is set from 1959 to the early 1960s when Priscilla arrives at Graceland and eventually moves there though Elvis is on-off at the house.

Its second act plays into their life at Graceland but also Priscilla changing her look to please Elvis as well as other things that proved to be chaotic and it lead to their wedding in 1967 that would be followed by the birth of their only daughter Lisa Marie. The third act is about the events afterwards as well as the dissolution of their marriage. Yet, it is largely told through Priscilla’s perspective as she is welcomed to Graceland with the love and care of people but it is also shielded from knowing things about Elvis’ business and providing any input into his career and such. The one time Elvis asks for her opinion on the songs he’s given, she is met with a near violent moment that Elvis quickly apologizes for. Coppola does showcase Presley as a seriously flawed individual who is also trying to create a fantasy of the life he would want with Priscilla but the demands of his career eventually would take a toll on everything. Especially for the fact that Priscilla is someone that wants to be there for him but he keeps pushing away to the point that she would find herself as well as make a decision about their lives.

Coppola’s direction definitely echoes a lot of the visual style she’s known for in terms of not just the compositions she creates as well as this sugar-coated, candy-colored atmosphere that the titular character lives in. It’s also in the fact that it is a film that is about a young woman trying to connect with this iconic figure in who he really is other than what the world sees him. Shot largely on location in Toronto due to budgetary constraints with some second unit work at Memphis, Tennessee for the exteriors of the Presley home known as Graceland. Coppola aims for a minimalist visual approach as it is shot largely on digital with some 8mm film footage relating to home moves that Elvis and Priscilla had shot during their marriage. There are some wide shots in the film including scenes in and out of Graceland including a shot of Elvis leaving to go on tour as the shot becomes a wider shot of Priscilla and Lisa Marie waving bye to Elvis. Yet, much of Coppola’s direction is intimate with the usage of medium shots and close-ups as the film opens with images of objects on the floor including a young Lisa Marie with painted toe nails.

Graceland is a major character in the film as it is this home that is idyllic in some respects with its lavish bedrooms, large dining rooms, big living rooms, and an office where a couple of women run Elvis’ fan club that intrigues Priscilla as she wants to help but Elvis’ father Vernon (Tim Post) says no. For all of its beauty from within, Graceland is also this place that is suffocating where not a lot happens whenever Elvis isn’t at home as it add to this sense of isolation and disconnect that Priscilla deals with. Notably as she can’t bring outsiders to Graceland including classmates at a Memphis Catholic high school that she attends for her senior year while whatever time she has with Elvis on a social level. However, that would include the Memphis Mafia and whatever girlfriends they’re with as a lot of them are in their 20s going into their 30s with Priscilla not even reaching 18 at that point as she would later marry Elvis at the age of 21 and lose her virginity to him at that time. Coppola plays into this sense of isolation that Priscilla goes through while her time with Elvis is a rollercoaster as he could be the sweetest person in the world but he is also a child sometimes and would do things that does make him a horrible person. Still, Coppola’s treatment of Elvis isn’t to make him a monster but rather a flawed individual who is caught in a world that demands so much from him while he does little for his life at home.

The film’s third act has Coppola not only playing with structure as it begins with Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding and the birth of Lisa Marie but also this major shift in their lives following Elvis’ 1968 TV comeback special. Whereas much of the film’s first two acts play things out slowly, things become much faster in the third act due to Elvis going on the road and doing shows in Vegas as there’s few glimpses of Elvis performing with Priscilla watching from afar and being a mother as she also to deal with tabloids about his supposed affairs. There is this sense of burnout that Priscilla goes through but also it is where she begins to find herself from the shadows of Elvis as she also sees up close of the world he is in that he cannot escape. Coppola’s approach to the ending is more about the decision that Priscilla makes for herself and Lisa Marie but also a decision that would play into Elvis’ own demise. Overall, Coppola crafts a ravishing and compelling film about the life of a young woman who would become the wife of the King of Rock N’ Roll.

Cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd does incredible work with the film’s luscious cinematography with its emphasis on low-key lighting for many of the film’s daytime/nighttime interior scenes including some soft lighting for some scenes in Graceland as there’s a lot of low-key colors and soft lighting that play into the atmosphere with some low-key yet natural lighting for some of exterior scenes except in the scenes set in California. Editor Sarah Flack does brilliant work with the editing as it has this sense of fluidity in its montages but also in some stylish jump-cuts that add to the sense of energy in the film as well as some straight cuts that allow shots to linger for a bit. Production designer Tamara Deverell, with set decorator Patricia Cuccia and art director Danny Haeberlin, does amazing work with the look of the homes in West Germany that Elvis and Priscilla were living in as well as the many interiors for the rooms in Graceland. Costume designer Stacey Battat does excellent work with the costumes in many dresses and clothes that Priscilla would wear throughout the years as well as some clothes that Elvis wears which were designed from Valentino.

Hair designer Cliona Furey and makeup designer Jo-Ann MacNeil do fantastic work with the look of Priscilla in different periods of her life from the natural, girlish look in Germany and her early days in Graceland to the black hair and makeup during the film’s second act to a more subdued, naturalistic look towards the end of her marriage towards Elvis. Special effects supervisors Michael Innanen and Simone Quinlan, along with visual effects supervisors Kayla Cabral and Brannek Gaudet, do terrific work with some of the film’s visual dressing in some scenes including some exteriors in Las Vegas as well a key scene where Elvis and Priscilla try LSD for the first time. Sound designer Stephen Barden and sound editor Nelson Ferreira do superb work with the sound in the way gunshots sound on a location or how music is heard from afar as the atmosphere in the sound help play into the world that Priscilla is in.

The film’s music soundtrack that is supervised by the band Phoenix, along with Randall Poster, doesn’t feature any actual music by Elvis Presley other than a few performances by noted Elvis impersonators due to rights issues. Instead, Phoenix and Poster create a soundtrack that is intentionally anachronistic yet it somehow adds to the mood of the film as the soundtrack features some original score music by Sons of Raphael that include instrumental takes on some of the songs that are made famous by Presley. Along with music from that period such as Frankie Avalon, Brenda Lee, T.L. Barrett and the Youth Choir Chorus, the Little Dippers, the Soul Stirrers, Speedy West, the Orlons, and the Righteous Brothers. Some of the anachronistic music include a cover of the Ronettes’ Baby I Love You by the Ramones as well as music from Tommy James and the Shondells, Santana, and Alice Coltrane. There’s also some indie-rock/electronic-based music by Spectrum, Porches, Dan Deacon, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith as well as some instrumental covers of songs from the 1950s/1960s by David Mansfield as well as a song by Dolly Parton as the film’s soundtrack is a major highlight of the film.

The casting by Courtney Bright, John Buchan, Nicole Daniels, and Jason Knight is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles from Daniel Lipka as Priscilla’s younger half-brother Don, Evan Annisette as Elvis and Priscilla’s karate instructor Mike Stone, Olivia Barrett as Elvis’ cook Alberta, Lynne Griffin as Elvis’ grandmother Dodger, Luke Humphrey as the air force officer Terry West who introduces Priscilla to Elvis, Deanna Jarvis as West’s wife, the duo of Raine Monroe Boland and Emily Mitchell in their respective roles as the 3-year old and 5-year old versions of Lisa Marie Presley, R Austin Ball as Elvis’ spiritual advisor Larry Geller who tried to introduce Elvis to Eastern philosophies, and Tim Post as Elvis’ father Vernon who shields Priscilla from aspects relating to his son’s business affairs. Ari Cohen and Dagmara Dominczyk are superb in their respective roles as Priscilla’s stepfather Captain Paul Beaulieu and mother Ann Beaulieu with the former hesitant for Priscilla to go out with Elvis while the latter is a little more open upon realizing that Elvis has honorable intentions.

In roles of members of the Memphis Mafia, the performances of Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Dan Beirne, and Dan Abramovic in their respective roles of Alan “Hog Ears”, road manager Joseph Esposito, and talent agent Jerry Schilling as Elvis’ close friends who are fond of Priscilla while also helping Elvis out with everything that he needed. Jacob Elordi is incredible as Elvis Presley as Elordi captures the voice of Elvis as well as someone who is vulnerable due to the loss of his mother and the need to be with someone as pure as Priscilla. Elordi also brings in that sense of anger and anguish as a man who loves Priscilla but he also succumbs to his vices as well as the demands of a career that takes away from things that are really important to him.

Finally, there’s Cailee Spaeny in an outstanding leading performance as the titular character as she showcases nearly 15 years of Priscilla’s life from being a teenage girl to being a woman where Spaeny showcases the complexities of her character as well as someone who goes from being this love struck teenager to a woman that feels neglected, lost, and trapped in a world that expects a lot. It is a true break-out performance for Spaeny as she displays not just someone who is full of innocence early on but also someone who also gets frustrated as well as eventually finding her own voice in her role as a wife and mother. Spaeny and Elordi do have amazing chemistry as this couple who are considered royalty in American popular culture in the way they’re fond of each other but also play into the events that would cause their dissolution.

Priscilla is a spectacular film from Sofia Coppola that features a magnificent break-out performance from Cailee Spaeny. Along with an amazing supporting turn from Jacob Elordi as Elvis along with its ensemble cast, riveting character study, luscious visuals, and an incredible music soundtrack. It is a film that doesn’t play by the rules in exploring the life of a woman who is married to the King of Rock N’ Roll but also a study of a rollercoaster life in which a woman is a spectator while also yearning to connect with her husband and herself. In the end, Priscilla is a tremendous film from Sofia Coppola.

Sofia Coppola Films: Lick the Star - The Virgin Suicides - Lost in Translation - Marie Antoinette - Somewhere - The Bling Ring - A Very Murray Christmas - The Beguiled (2017 film) - On the Rocks

Sofia Coppola Soundtracks: Air-The Virgin Suicides OST - The Virgin Suicides OST - Lost in Translation OST - Marie Antoinette OST - (The Bling Ring OST) – (Priscilla OST)

Related: The Videos & Ads 1993-2008 - Favorite Films #1: Lost in Translation - The Auteurs #1: Sofia Coppola - Favorite Films #4: Somewhere - 10 Reasons Why Lost in Translation is the Best Film Ever... - 10 Things I Want to See in a Criterion 4K UHD Blu-Ray for Lost in Translation - Elvis (1979 TV film) - (Elvis (2022 film))

© thevoid99 2023

Bad Times at the El Royale

Written and directed by Drew Goddard, Bad Times at the El Royale is the story of seven strangers who stay at a hotel at the California-Nevada border in 1969 where strange things occur as it all lead to their own secrets. The film is a neo-noir thriller that explore a single night in this mysterious hotel as it also involved a major incident that occurred a decade earlier. Starring Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth. Bad Times at the El Royale is a gripping and haunting film from Drew Goddard.

Set in one day at the El Royale hotel on the California-Nevada border in 1969, the film revolves around a group of people who arrive at the hotel as they each carry a secret as they stay for the night where things would get stranger and terrifying as it goes on. It’s a film with a simple premise that play into these visitors and why they’re in this hotel as Drew Goddard’s script showcases the life of these inhabitants in small sections of the film. Among these visitors includes a Catholic priest in Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a singer in Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a hippie in Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson), and a salesman in Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm). The hotel’s lone employee in Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman) is also a mysterious figure as he seeks to have a conversation with Father Flynn unaware of Father Flynn’s intentions at the hotel nor the intentions of the other guests. Emily has a hostage named Rose (Cailee Spaeny) while Father Flynn is trying to find something in one of the rooms in the Nevada section of the hotel. Darlene is on her way to Reno for a job while Sullivan is at the hotel for reasons that doesn’t involve sales.

Goddard’s script would give the four principle characters a segment of their own with everyone but Sullivan having their stories told in flashbacks as it relates to their motivations and why they’re at the hotel while Miles himself is someone that is troubled as his own story isn’t unveiled until its third act. Emily’s story does involve a reason why she kidnapped Rose as it relates to this charismatic cult figure in Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) who would become a prominent figure for the film’s third act. Especially as it play into secrets of the hotel as well as the inhabitants who all have something to hide.

Goddard’s direction does bear elements of style as it play into this air of intrigue into this hotel on the California-Nevada border as if it was a place of style and glamour but there’s something about it that is off. Shot mainly in Burnaby near Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada with additional locations shot in Vancouver, the film play into this world in the middle of this state border as the hotel itself is a character with its stylish rooms and a lobby that features a bar on the California side and a casino on the Nevada side. Goddard’s usage of the wide and medium shots does take great coverage of the interiors of the hotel lobby as well as the secret hallways that feature a two-way mirror for each apartment that inhabitants aren’t aware of. The usage of close-ups and medium shots would play into some of the conversations between characters as well as long takes for a conversation to happen as it is Goddard breaking away from some of the conventional elements of scenes where he lets the camera just linger and capture the moment.

Goddard’s direction also play up this air of intrigue but also this growing air of tension that is to emerge where the secrets of the El Royale starts to emerge with its two-way mirrors as well as what happened a decade earlier where a man (Nick Offerman) had hidden something in a room as it would relate to what Father Flynn is trying to find. Yet, he is hampered by the fact that he is already showing signs of dementia as the second act has him and Darlene learn about each other as well as the former’s involvement what happened a decade ago. The film’s third act that involves Billy Lee definitely adds to the suspense and drama where Goddard maintains this uneasy atmosphere that emerges where it has elements of dark comedy where Lee bears a lot of the characteristics of someone like Charles Manson. Goddard has the camera maintain Lee’s presence but also the inhabitants who realize that this is someone of a greater evil yet Lee believes there is no such thing as right and wrong as it just adds to the tension throughout the film. Overall, Goddard crafts an unsettling yet riveting film about a dark night in 1969 at a hotel on the California-Nevada border.

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of lights for the rainy exterior scenes at night as well as the way the hotel rooms are lit from the inside and in the secret hallway as well as the look of the lobby. Editor Lisa Lassek does excellent work with the editing with its emphasis on rhythmic cuts to help build up the suspense as well as knowing when not to cut during a monologue or a conversation. Production designer Martin Whist, with set decorator Hamish Purdy and supervising art director Michael Diner, does amazing work with the look of the hotel rooms and the hotel itself as it is a character in the film with its major differences depending on what state the characters are on. Costume designer Danny Glicker does fantastic work with the costumes as it each play into the personalities of the characters and where they come from during a turbulent time in 1969.

Special makeup effects designer Toby Lindala does terrific work with the makeup in the look of Miles upon a troubling encounter as well as the look of a few characters to play into the times. Special effects supervisor Joel Whist, along with visual effects supervisors David W. Allen and Oliver Atherton, does some nice work with the visual effects as it is mainly bits of set dressing for the 1959 flashback scene as well as a few bits inside the hotel. Sound designers Casey Genton and Julian Slater do superb work with the sound in the way rooms sound as well as scenes of Darlene singing in her room and the way music is presented in the lobby. The film’s music by Michael Giacchino is incredible for its low-key yet eerie orchestral score that help play into the suspense and drama with its string arrangements and emphasis on building up the suspense with low yet heavy strings. The film’s music soundtrack features songs sung by Cynthia Erivo as well as music from the Box Tops, Deep Purple, the Four Preps, Edwin Starr, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Crystals, the Four Tops, the Mamas & the Papas, and the American Bread to play into the period of the late 1960s.

The casting by Carmen Cuba is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles from Charles Halford as a convict that Father Flynn knew, Mark O’Brien as a bank robber, Shea Whigham as a prison doctor, Xavier Dolan as a record producer Darlene refuses to sleep with, and Nick Offerman as a bank robber in 1959 who hides the money. Cailee Spaeny is terrific as Rose as a young girl infatuated with Billy Lee as she seems to be entranced by his teachings much to the dismay of Emily. Lewis Pullman is superb as Miles as the hotel clerk who is harboring secrets of his own as he tries to run the hotel while wanting some guidance from Father Flynn. Jon Hamm is excellent as Laramie Seymour Sullivan as a salesman who is in town yet has other motives as it relates to things in the hotel. Dakota Johnson is fantastic as Emily Summerspring as a hippie who has taken a young girl as a hostage as it relates to a cult leader she dislikes as she presents herself as someone who doesn’t like anyone as it’s a front for why she kidnapped this young girl whom she’s concerned about.

Cynthia Erivo is brilliant as Darlene Sweet as a soul singer whose career to be a solo singer goes wrong as she is on her way to Reno for a job as she contends with the chaos at the hotel as well as trying to figure out what Father Flynn is doing. Jeff Bridges is amazing as Father Daniel Flynn as a Catholic priest who has arrived to this hotel on his way back home where he is ambiguous in his motives for being at the hotel yet he is revealed to be someone that is trying to find something but also is dealing with memory loss as well as other issues that makes him an ambiguous but a person with good intentions. Finally, there’s Chris Hemsworth in a phenomenal performance as Billy Lee as this Charles Manson-like cult leader who doesn’t appear often in the film as he would play a big role in its third act where he has this presence that is discomforting yet entrancing while is filled with so much charisma that he just completely steals the film from everyone as the sight of him dancing to Deep Purple’s cover of Hush is probably one of the sexiest moments captured on film.

Bad Times at the El Royale is a tremendous film from Drew Goddard. Featuring an incredible ensemble cast, a chilling premise set in a remote location, interesting character studies, gorgeous visuals, a mesmerizing music score by Michael Giacchino, and a killer music soundtrack. The film is definitely a neo-noir inspired suspense-drama that explore a group of people in a hotel on the California-Nevada border who endure a hellish rainy night that would bring a lot of trouble and terror with the latter in the form of a Charles Manson-like cult leader. In the end, Bad Times at the El Royale is an outstanding film from Drew Goddard.

Drew Goddard Films: The Cabin in the Woods

© thevoid99 2019