Fruzsina Papp - Rocketman (2019) - Review

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Songs You Can Act Through: Elton John’s Music Turned into a Musical Fantasy in Rocketman

    

“I miss the Earth so much, I miss my life” – sings Taron Egerton playing the rock legend Elton John in this year’s Rocketman, as he looks back on his life while he is in therapy for his alcohol and drug addictions. Simply listening to the song that made the title of the film, one could assume that the film is about John longing for his old life, his old self, but on the other hand: also building on the audience’s mere, superficial knowledge that Elton John is now sober, and happily living with his husband and two adopted sons, the film depicts the arch John has come over the course of the last six decades. The film does not back away from representing his ups and downs, his suicide attempts and his biggest successes, and that is the film’s biggest strength. Rocketman does not even try to be a factual biopic like Bohemian Rhapsody attempted, and therefore, to use the imagery of the title, it can aim, and even land higher.

As the film, that the creators usually define as a “musical fantasy,” has indeed elements of fantasy, and not only in the sense that some aspects had been changed, but also because Elton John has never shot out like an actual rocket and exploded into a set of fireworks just to find himself on a plane – though, it is part of the movie. It recounts the major events of Elton John’s life in the framework of him narrating it to his peers at the rehab centre. Even though the film has fantastical elements, it heavily relies on the rules of biopics, for which it is important that Elton John himself contributed to the process; he provided Taron Egerton with his diaries in which he “wrote everything down in this matter-of-fact way”, as he states it in the Guardian article, put down his own experience of the events represented in the film. Although John was, to some degree, involved in the creation, he had no say in the casting or on the production itself. The stars had to align in a rather fortunate form to make the movie happen; after it had been in development for years, Matthew Vaughn, who directed Kingsman, made it happen. He produced Rocketman and knew Elton John, Taron Egerton (who met on the set of Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle), and Dexter Fletcher, who directed Rocketman. The latter already worked with Taron Egerton on Eddie the Eagle. With such crew, it is no surprise that the film received numerous award nominations, including three Golden Globes and one Grammy nomination.

Although Bohemian Rhapsody, a film that was released only six months prior to Rocketman, similarly about the life of a rock legend, the two movies differ at various points. Both films are biographical, to some extent, but while, as mentioned before, Rocketman does not even try to hide the fact that it utilized many elements of fiction, Bohemian Rhapsody defines itself as a biopic. It is factually inaccurate in several questions and rewrote the timeline of Mercury’s life so that it would serve the plot. It succeeded, Rami Malek did win an Oscar for the movie, even though he does not sing the soundtrack; Taron Egerton, on the other hand, does. Vaughn and Fletcher did not even try to make Egerton copy Elton John, they rather opted for him to have his own rendition of the songs. It is also part of the fantasy and a very successful one; the audience is aware that it is indeed the actor on the screen who is singing the songs, thus it is easier for the viewer to believe the events than if it was put together digitally, as was in the case of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Another great difference, that although both films depict the lives of homosexual musicians, Rocketman did not make the compromises that Bohemian Rhapsody did. While the latter did not include gay sex scenes and was only rated PG-13, the former got rated R for alcohol and drug use, and sexual content. John himself wrote in an article for the Guardian, that “I did not lead a PG life.” Bohemian Rhapsody, opted to make it more child-friendly, so that entire family could go and see it, and it did affect the outcome; it ended up being a rather predictable concert movie mostly only touching for those absolutely devoted to Queen. Meanwhile, Rocketman also utilizes elements well-known from musicals and films about musicians, it managed to explore issues such as homosexuality, addiction, or mental illness. It reveals John’s struggles with (homo)sexuality, coming out – for example, it reveals that John struggled to come out to his family even after years of living with his first boyfriend -, and how he became addicted to alcohol and drugs. It does not include many sex scenes, and there are only one of his relationships included in the film, and although the film does not back away from depicted drug abuse, it does not create an encouraging narrative or present too much of it. It only reminds the audience that John did not, in fact, lead a PG life. Bohemian Rhapsody creates a problematic narrative about Mercury’s sexuality; it questions his bisexuality and makes it seem like that all the problems that he had to face (his separation from the band, his artistic struggles, or his disease) was because he was homosexual. Rocketman only explores John’s way to come out and to come to terms with it. It is his quest to be loved properly, a goal that the movie emphasises at several points, and which becomes the biggest strength of the film; it allows the audience to get emotionally involved.

Many technical aspects of Rocketman cannot be questioned; directing, for example, or acting. Taron Egerton flawlessly portrays a twenty-something musician struggling to find a producer, and a drug-addict contemplating and attempting suicide after having been abused by his boyfriend. He conveys both stages of John’s life perfectly, and so does Jamie Bell, who made Elton John’s friend and songwriter, Bernie Taupin, come alive on screen. Editing, on the other hand, can be both praised and criticised at the same time. It does use some creative and spectacular solutions, for example, the “Honkey Cat” is put together from many elements, or when the scenes change without the audience noticing between the scene in which John argues with his mother in a restaurant and the “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” scene. We also have to list here the numerous ways the creators incorporated the song also serving as the title for the movie, “Rocketman.” The accords from the song are heard, for instance, when young Reggie Dwight is in his bedroom, make-believe conducting an orchestra, imagining to be a successful musician. (The film also evokes classical music at the beginning of the “Crocodile Rock” scene, which makes elevates the entire scene and also reminds the audience that we see the entire narrative through the glasses of Elton John. These are his memories, that are not the most reliable source.)

But the one technical aspect of the film that is worth criticising, is the use of CGI, or computer-generated imagery. It is not used much, but there are three segments that must be mentioned. Firstly, the “Rocketman” scene. Spoiler alert: it starts with Elton John overusing medicines, drugs and alcohol, then attempting suicide in the middle of a garden party by throwing himself in his pool. This is probably the only decent attempt at CGI: he first floats in the water, looking at his child self, who is singing the first couple of notes of the song, then he turns upwards. The pool is made to look like it is never-ending, and it is rather touching and effective. This solution emphasises the depth (pun intended) of his desperate cry for help. The second instance of CGI is the ending of the song, which, on the other hand, shows John shooting off from the stage in his Dodgers uniform, explodes into a firework, and lands on his plane. Although it is a smooth transition between the two scenes, the aesthetics of the CGI does not make up for ruining the end of an otherwise emotional sequence. The second, and probably the saddest mishap is the “Pinball Wizard” scene. It is especially a pity taking into consideration how well thought-out the same song was in 1975 in Tommy, where the creators managed to neatly choreograph the entire song. In Rocketman, it is only focused on Egerton singing in different costumes and audiences cheaply blurred in the background.

No surprise, but the absolute strength of Rocketman is the soundtrack. As we do not expect Taron Egerton to mimic Elton John, the disappointment factor is automatically reduced; the songs are renewed, some of them, or parts of some were even sung on set. Each song is incorporated to support the storytelling, and not chronologically, just like in any other musical. Egerton already had his history with “Your Song,” as he used it to audition to drama school as a teenager. On the Cannes Press Conference Egerton explained: “It is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, […] I choose that song to audition to drama school because Bernie Taupin is a poet and a storyteller and lots of these songs are written like stories so you can remove the music and they work as addresses, speeches, as character pieces, and when you audition for acting course you want a song that you can act through. And it occurred to me at the age of seventeen that ‘Your Song’ is a song you can act and perform like you were talking to someone.” It is unquestionably one of the greatest love songs, but Fletcher twisted the narrative: the song, that is entirely sung on set, making it sound more authentic, is not about romantic relationships, but about the friendship of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. This is the only scene in which we see how the process of writing the song came about, and it simply shows John playing with the notes to put the melody together and as he starts singing, some glances are shared with Taupin to create the illusion.

Many musical scenes could be mentioned: “The Bitch is Back,” for instance, is a cinematic take on John starting to reminisce about his life, and it makes it clear for the audience that this film focuses on Elton John, as he is the only character that is colourful, all the others are faded. “Saturday Night’s Alright” is a smooth swift from teenager Reggie Dwight playing in pubs to the young adult who later changes his name to Elton John. It features dancers and extras in a choreography that bigger musicals should take as an example, and so does the “Honky Cat” scene, although most dancers are only featured in the additionally released deleted scenes. “Take Me to the Pilot,” a song about losing virginity, is played during the scene in which John loses his virginity. Each musical segment is creative in one way or another, therefore it is probably inevitable that we get a “Pinball Wizard” for every “Your Song.”

Many aspects of the film add together to an emotional rollercoaster about Elton John’s life. The audience gets to enjoy his successes and feel for his struggle with his sexuality, his private life, and addictions, while still enjoying a musical. Although it does not renew the rules of the genres its lines the film plays along with, it does bring in some interesting ideas. Making “Your Song” about friendship is only one of them, but Fletcher indeed managed to put an emotional film on the big screen, worth watching in spite of its faults. It is certainly a better take on a musician’s life than Bohemian Rhapsody, that may be suitable for children and families but turned out to be a concert film mostly enjoyable for only the most devoted fans of the band who want to see the story they know. Rocketman is a bolder proposition that did not go for compromises and did not try to pretend that rock stars of the 1970s and 1980s led a life that can be shown to entire families. And it did turn out as an enjoyable film for not only those who know anything about John’s career, but also for those who just enjoy the music, or curious about the culture of rock and roll.