By Ed Symkus

Director Baz Luhrman’s exhilarating documentary-concert film gives us Elvis in his prime.

EPiC: Elvis Pressley in Concert, directed by Baz Luhrman. It’s playing at AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Coolidge Corner Theatre, West Newton Cinema, and Dedham Community Theatre.

A shot of Elvis supplying razzle-dazzle in EPiC. Photo: Neon

Before settling down to watch EPiC – an acronym for Elvis Presley in Concert – I was not what could be categorized an Elvis fan. At least not a hardcore specimen. Did I appreciate him? Hell, yeah! He had an amazing voice – clear, pure, and powerful, right to the end. He wasn’t afraid to diversify the styles of his song choices – easily shifting from the rocking swagger of “Hard-Headed Woman” to the soft croon of “Don’t.” And oh, those uninhibited stage movements! Yikes!

I understand what drove those hardcore fans to states of frenzy. And I can share some personal favorite aspects of The King.

Favorite song: “(Now and Then There’s) A Fool Such as I”

Favorite album: Elvis’ Golden Records

Favorite Performance: “Are You Lonesome Tonight” (from A Legendary Performer – Volume 1)

Favorite movie he starred in: I’ve only seen seven of the 31 he made. Didn’t like any of them.

Favorite novel that was adapted into an Elvis film: The Lost Country by J.R. Salamanca, which became Wild in the Country

Favorite film about him: John Carpenter’s Elvis, starring Kurt Russell

Favorite really weird film about him: Bubba Ho-Tep, starring Bruce Campbell

Full transparency: I never caught him in concert, nor have I seen the earlier documentaries, Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970), the repurposed Elvis: That’s the Way It Is – Special Edition (2001), or the Golden Globe-winning Elvis on Tour (1972). So, I’ve nothing with which to compare the new documentary-concert film hybrid EPiC. But the experience of seeing it on a big screen and hearing it on a state-of-the-art sound system might have begun to convert me into a dedicated Elvis fan.

It’s an exceptional film that triumphs on an abundance of levels, the result of the combined work of director Baz Luhrman and his longtime editor Jonathan Redmond. There’s the technical side, how separate visuals and sound are matched. And the exhilarating performance side – Elvis onstage and in rehearsals for his 1970 Las Vegas residency.

Luhrman, a director of visual extravaganzas including Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby (2013), inadvertently began working on EPiC when he was in the research phase for his 2022 biopic Elvis. Embarking on an elaborate treasure hunt for source material, the director and his crew gained access to voluminous amounts of material sitting in Graceland’s archives, including private collections of both film – much of it without sound – and audio tapes, the latter featuring several portions of the Vegas shows, intimate rehearsal sessions for those performances, and a previously unheard 50-minute audio interview with Elvis. All of this stuff inspired the creation of an Elvis project after the narrative film was completed.

Luhrman and Redmond – with an assist from director and technical wizard Peter Jackson – worked for more than two years digitizing, restoring, and syncing up the various sight and sound elements, then fashioning them into EPiC.

The resulting 90-minute film is a breathtaking, energy-filled, razzle-dazzle affair. It kicks off, in somewhat conventional documentary form, with the voice of Elvis – from that audio interview – saying that he’s going to tell “my side of the story, of how I got into this business.”

That doesn’t quite happen because the film, fortunately, takes a welcome turn into something that’s not at all conventional. There are bits and pieces of the King, sometimes onstage, sometimes out in public, other times relaxing at home. You hear him explain his showbiz duties: “you get a record, you get on television, and you go to Hollywood. And then you go back to the stage.”

There’s a quick flip through scenes from his early films, a short bit on his two-year stint in the Army, more clips from post-Army films, and his voice again, talking about his disappointment in the way he was used in those films. He complains that he was nevergiven the opportunity to show that he had acting ability.

But this is all preamble. EPiC really lifts off at about the 20-minute mark, and then it soars. There’s no story being told, no talking heads clogging up the film’s flow, just an electrifying look at Elvis in action – from his dazzling and energetic performances on the stage of the International Hotel to the relaxed, but give-it-all-you’ve-got rehearsals, first with his core band, then adding his backup singers and other musicians. He was 35 years old, knew exactly what he wanted to present to his fans, took charge of those rehearsals, and called the shots during the performances.

In the midst of depicting Elvis’s commitment to getting things right on stage, the film captures his love of music, his desire to connect with his fans – and he sure does! – his often self-deprecating sense of humor, and his wise choice of constantly changing up the mood of the set list with, for example, “Hound Dog,” “Little Sister,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”, “Yesterday,” and “Polk Salad Annie.”

At this point the film never slows down, so everything comes across as a highlight. But kudos to Luhrman for presenting only segments of the songs – often long ones. That clears the way for a faster pace, and opportunities to show off an eye-popping editing style that seamlessly juxtaposes portions of songs being performed on the stage and in rehearsals.

So, will having seen this really turn me into a dyed-in-the-wool Elvis fan? I think a second viewing will tell. And I’m looking forward to it.

Ed Symkus is a Boston native and Emerson College graduate. He went to Woodstock, edited the book Russ Meyer: Interviews, has interviewed Baz Luhrman, Charlie Kaufman, Doris Wishman, Jason Reitman, and Roger Corman, and has visited the Outer Hebrides, the Lofoten Islands, Anglesey, Mykonos, Nantucket, the Azores, Catalina, Kangaroo Island, Capri, and the Isle of Wight with his wife Lisa.