Review of Rocketman (2019) by Mauro_Lanari — 07 Aug 2019

(Mauro Lanari).

The music of the 70s was experiencing a new, different and involutionary phase. Baroque orchestrations, pianos instead of electric guitars, symphonic rock, glam rock, progressive rock, rock stars replaced by pop stars, performers and vocalists. Elton John and Bernie Taupin played a central role in this departure from the paradigm of rock composition. Very few of their songs are the exception, and it's no coincidence that they correspond to the more powerful scenes of the film: "Crocodile Rock" (which did not open the concert at the Troubadour since it had not yet been written), the cover of "Pinball Wizard" by Pete Townshend for the film "Tommy" (Ken Russell, 1975), the extraordinary "Rocket Man", which transcends any categorization. Director Dexter Fletcher catches two out of three cases to catapult himself into visionariness, more precisely into an audiovisual suspended between time and eternity. Decent and interesting the rest (a musical disguised as a biopic, yet sincere), but in those two moments one feels the thrill of great cinema.