acid reflects

Rocketman
Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Based on the life of Elton John
Rated R13

Equal parts sparkling, campy and moving, Rocketman is sex, drugs and rock n roll all over queer colorful rainbow.

Director Dexter Fletcher jumbles the genre a bit to present a not-so rock biopic nor a full-on jukebox musical that is enjoyably colorful to watch but not thoroughly within sing-along territory. The magic happens with Taron Egerton’s Elton John and Jamie Bell who plays songwriter and BFF Bernie Taupin.

The first image is an indication of how crazy the film gets. Egerton dressed as a sequinned demon – horns, wings and all – barrels towards camera to the symphonic instruments of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road before announcing himself in a room with a small group huddled in a circle. It’s a therapy meeting of sorts, and the film lays out Elton’s life as he narrates his life in a series of flashbacks from his unloved childhood as a piano prodigy Reggie Dwight (played by Matthew Illesley) rejected by parents (Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh) but encouraged by the grandmother his grandmother (Gemma Jones), to his introduction to Elvis Presley music in his teens and performing with a band called Bluesology in small London pubs.

The turning point happens when the budding performer changes his name to Elton John and is told by a record producer that, as much as he is a terrific musician, he would need much better lyrics. This prompts a meeting with a budding young songwriter Bernie Taupin (“Billy Elliot” Jamie Bell) who would later become the most meaningful professional and personal partnership Elton would ever have.

From here onwards, the film tackles Elton’s stratospheric rise to superstardom through conventional rock biopic tropes – rave reviews from a stint in the Troubadour in Los Angeles lands him new record deals, requiring more songs and more tours in America with Bernie at his side. Then there’s the heated romance with a music manager John Reid (Richard Madden) with the much-ballyhooed (but truthfully just adequate) sex scene. Reid would later on exploit Elton through their contracts – something that happens to almost every known music artist. Generic Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll, were it not for the fact that the sexuality depicted here is Elton’s homosexuality. That layer in the story is not front and center of the conflict, but it is a significant part of it. In between these events, Elton would remove portions of his devilish costume layer by layer, figuratively baring his life to the anonymous therapy group. Cheeky English humor masking the drama underneath.

It’s an interesting device that does the job of framing the story, but it goes nothing deeper than that. Songs from the singer’s decades-long career are woven in to push the narrative forward the way jukebox musicals throw in songs to fit the emotion or the situation in the scenes but never exactly in chronological order (for how could a child Reggie/Elton sing and dance to “The Bitch is Back”?) Speaking of which, choreographed scenes can get a little tacky, such as in the aforementioned first musical number involving young Reggie {“The Bitch is Back”) and likewise in the “interpretative” sequence for the titular “Rocketman” ironically at the lowest point of Elton’s personal life. One can almost say that were it not for his unique music (and maybe the flamboyant costumes), Elton’s journey is about as typical as most musicians’ paths, regardless of sexuality.

Like I said, the magic is how the film portrays the platonic relationship between Elton and Bernie, with their scenes as the most meaningfully done and emotionally moving. I must admit that I teared up slightly at how “Your Song” became a tribute to true, enduring friendship, and also in “Tiny Dancer” – my favorite Elton song – as a bittersweet farewell to youth and the union that was Elton and Bernie. After that, the songs fit perfunctorily fine within the fantastical narrative.

Unfortunately, this bond is underdeveloped on Bernie’s side.

Egerton does a fine job handling the singing and the impersonation of the Elton. He may not have the vocals and the piano skills down to pat, but that’s him when he’s singing. He seems to not have problems with depictions of Elton’s sexuality, even kissing as many as three guys onscreen. This is the same Egerton whom we saw as an unassuming English lad in his Hollywood debut in Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service back in 2014. That wasn’t a long time ago.

As a counterpoint to Egerton’s challenges performance-wise, Bell takes his Bernie Taupin to a relaxed, confident stride – not having any burden of going under the audiences’ scrutiny whether or not he looks or acts like the real Bernie. The result is great chemistry between the two actors in the scenes together. It’s just sad that there isn’t much written on Bernie’s persona other than being the supportive, understanding and brilliant lyricist behind every Elton hit.

Lastly, we can’t ignore the comparison with a rock biopic also helmed (at the last minute) by Fletcher. Rocketman does not have the fireworks and intensity of Bohemian Rhapsody’s productions befitting Queen’s songs, nor does Rocketman’s portrayal of Elton equal that of the verve in Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury. But Rocketman doesn’t deny Elton’s homosexuality the way Bohemian demonized Mercury’s (though the film calculatedly depicts this sexuality sufficiently. While the film suggests that Elton has had, er, more than enough, they’re not explicitly depicted.) And we hear Egerton’s voice – imperfect as it is – singing without the added layer of a ghost.

In a way, the movie depicts a picture of the great, the talented Elton John’s genesis from childhood to reformed superstar, as Elton John the producer may have wanted his story to be told in memoriam – not necessarily in historically accurate terms, but through a fantasy that speaks his own ridiculous terms. Maybe that’s the same voice that Elton has been delivering through his songs all these years.

Images and trailer links from United International Pictures.