Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Knoxville, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters, Tate Donavon, Ashley Benson, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Joey Sagal, Dylan Penn.
When a President meets a King it is with the possibility of diplomacy in mind, that deals are to be struck and offers of friendship talked over, normally with the idea of business in mind. When a President meets a King it is to smooth over mutual issues and create a shared and common goal, an interest that is beneficial to their respective countries. When a President meets the King, who knows what will happen inside the grandeur of the Oval Office.
Directed by Liza Johnson, Elvis & Nixon is a biopic unlike almost anything else audiences may have ever seen, for a start whilst the meeting was recorded as having taken place, a solitary black and white photograph stands testament to the fact in the American National Archives that history is right in some regard, yet what was discussed, the actual context of the situation when they were alone remains firmly in the mind of the rich, fertile imagination and conspiracy theorists dreams.
Two of America’s most recognisable faces from the 20th Century, one the cultural icon who turned into a parody of himself and the other run out of office for being crooked, for being caught telling the American people lies; such powerful men who could change the way that America was looked upon, together in the same room, with many subjects to discuss.
Taking advantage of this story, one that unless you knew it happened, unless you cared, may as well have passed you by for the rest of your life, is not only groundbreaking but one that somehow feels comfortable, feels kind of nice and homely. It is that gesture by the cast of familiarity that sells the film, nothing after all really happens throughout, just conversation, just posturing and hearsay but it still feels right.
With a very superb performance, one that should not be a surprise audiences one single jot, by Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon and a captivating Michael Shannon giving the memory of the entertainer a timely injection of pathos, Elvis & Nixon is a great film that comes out of nowhere, it matters not that there is no discernible action in the film, it is all about the conversation, the talk of secrecy and ambition, that makes this particular film one of the must-sees of the year.
Ian D. Hall