Disturbing yet enthralling

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Director Thom Zimny has made music documentaries for Bruce Springsteen where he has access to interviews with the Boss and members of his band as well as those closest to him.Here Zimny has been granted access to footage, photos and archived interviews from his estate. There are no talking heads but you have narration from Springsteen, Tom Petty, Jon Landau, Priscilla Presley, Emmylou Harris and childhood friend Jerry Schilling.This is a sprawling two part documentary that clocks in at 4 hours. It is very long, telling a story that could had been done in half the time. The involvement of Priscilla also makes me thing it was sanitised in parts. There is no mention of Elvis's karate lessons and each other's infidelities.The first part is more interesting, Elvis singing country, gospel, bluegrass that will eventually lead to rock n roll under the guidance of Sam Phillips of Sun Records.Colonel Tom Parker is the villain of the piece, a malignant influence who ultimately enriched himself and held back Elvis who wanted to see the world but could not as the Colonel was an illegal immigrant.The documentary comes alive when it plays interviews from Elvis, Sam Phillips and those who were there with him at the time. When Tom Petty talks about how Elvis was bored when he was in the army in Germany and how he took uppers to keep awake, you think 'how do you know?'

This is, without a doubt, one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. And I've seen a ridiculous amount of films in my life. Even if you are not a big fan of documentaries, and I'm generally not, this is worth seeing. Even if you are not a fan of Elvis Presley, this film brings a perspective of American history worth a look. Usually, when someone is that famous, and died decades ago, we tend to believe we must know everything there is worth knowing. Two things make this film very different. First, the personal views of those who knew him best, like Priscilla Presley, and those influenced by him, like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, give the film a gravity rarely seen. Second, this is the rare film that neither worships nor belittles him. It approaches Elvis Presley as a human being, much like any other, whose life had an amazing range of ups and downs.I've rated thousands of films on IMDb, but reviewed very few. This one was worth a few minutes to share my thoughts. Well done to all involved.

I'm not a huge Elvis fan, but the lovingly in-depth, full scope of this 2-part documentary got me closer. I of course knew about much of it (his days at Sun Studios, the unfulfilling Hollywood years, his "larger"-than-life Vegas swan song), but it shined a light on so many things I didn't know. The rock lifestyle didn't get him addicted to pills; the army did. His extreme stage fright after getting back to music. His entire relationship with malicious Tom Parker.

This documentary is mainly about Elvis as an artist and the information about his personal life that is brought up is information that influenced his career. This isn't about Elvis and women, prescription drugs, his marriage, Elvis who gained weight in the end etc., it's about Elvis and his talent, his influences, his dreams, his inspirations, where he came from, his motivation, how life influenced his career, how Colonel Parker influenced his career, how he felt about his career en why career choices were made etc. Elvis was an incredible talent and the first of his kind and this documentary is about all of that that we should remember about Elvis and what Elvis is about. People who actually knew him speak about him and the talented Bruce Springsteen speaks too. Not a second is wasted by showing the people that are being interviewed, you hear their voices over new and old videos and images of Elvis. The documentary itself is very well done. The overall style and the footage filmed at Graceland and atmosphere shots at places he has lived and he has been really give you a feeling of the vibe of the era and time the documentary speaks about.Part 1 is more uplifting, part 2 is darker. The documentary won't give the die hard Elvis fans a lot of new information, but it's still worth watching as I find it the best documentary on Elvis because it's about him as an entertainer and his talent and it tells about his true feelings about his career. It's a documentary that is respectful towards Elvis.