Tropic Sprockets / Rocketman

By Ian Brockway

 

Elton John conquered his addictions and came into his own being as an iconic musical genius and is rightly beloved for it. “Rocketman” by Dexter Fletcher (Eddie the Eagle) is the story of the rocker as a young man and it as buoyant and personal as Elton himself. It is a musical and as such it is rousing and intimate. Smoothly entertaining with nothing artificial or silly about it, it is packed with feeling. As a biopic of a music icon, it tells us more about a rock-and-roll heart and mind than any recent film.

Young Elton (born Reggie Dwight and played by Kit Conner) is faced with a cold father (Steven Mackintosh) and a caring yet conservative mom (Bryce Dallas Howard). One morning, he toys with the piano and mom decides on lessons.

Reggie keeps on with his music straight through his parents’ divorce. He is accepted to the Royal Academy of Music. The boy has a prodigious memory, able to play classical pieces that he only heard once.

Later, he forms his own band and sings back-up for an R&B group. The lead tells him that he has to “kill the person he was born to be, to become the person you wanna be.”

Reggie transforms into Elton John after seeing a photo of John Lennon at an exec studio. He also receives a packet of lyrics that need music to go with them.

Because of this, Elton meets Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) and the two begin a strongly empathic friendship which becomes a collaboration in writing.

Here, Elton begins his flamboyant showmanship in part to rebel against his parents’ staid views but also to highlight his individualist spirit.

As the adult Elton, Taron Egerton is perfect: heartfelt, sensitive and as wild as Elton John’s body demands. He is a genuine doppelganger for the legend.

More importantly, this film breathes.

One witnesses Elton thinking, feeling and observing others, as well as performing in his own evocative way.

The audience receives what the musician feels: the pushes and pulls with his mother and father, his angels of creativity and his devils.

Groundbreaking also for a mainstream film, one sees Elton as a mature artist and a loving gay man. Here is a man as musician without any overtly melodramatic party or histrionic fight scenes. The director has the courage to be quiet.

One sees Elton enter AA as a fantastical creature, but the scene is not for laughs. Daringly, Elton is shown embracing his five-year-old self—-accepting his entire being holistically and moving forward. It is an excellent moment, vivid and emotive without a trace of sap.

Better yet, this film focuses on the lyrical impact of the music. Words are put in focus with intent and intensity, mirroring the bond between Elton and Taupin.

This is nothing short of a musical portrait of a great performer. Vibrant and vibrating, energetic and irrepressible, it is also thoughtful and reflective.

“Rocketman” is Elton John without any surfaces or shallow veneer.

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