Just when you think it’s safe to wake up in the morning, this happens:
OH: I have serious problems understanding why the sky is blue.
Me: Oh?
OH: Don’t you?
Me: I hate to break this to you, but I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it
OH: In fact I don’t believe it is blue. I think it’s actually purple.
Me: Oh, right
OH: Don’t you think so?
Me: I don’t know really. I don’t think about it much
OH: I have serious problems understanding why the sky is purple.
Silence
OH: do you know what I mean?
Me: I really think you should stop asking that question
Last night I went to see Rocketman. I first came across Elton in the early seventies (I still have Honky Chateau) and have always considered him a total one-off. There’s a sort of rocket theme going on at the moment with the oddly-titled Stephen Poliakoff Summer of Rockets (I’ll probably get to that later) but the biopic was stupendous. It was stirring, stonking, stupefying and contained stupid amounts of alcohol and drugs.
The story begins with Elton in a red and gold outfit with wings – like a cross between a superhero and a carnival queen – walking off stage and into rehab from where he tells the rest of the story in flashback. The narrative focusses on the early to middle years: Reggie’s childhood with an emotionally absent father and a self-indulgent mother – his Gran the only person who takes an interest – his scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, his interview with a record company and subsequent meeting with Bernie Taupin and then the rocket-like trajectory of his success. And here the film really goes to town with the songs, the outfits, the glasses, the concerts, the parties, the coming-out as gay, the fake marriage to Renata, the success and the excess and the final crash.
What made the film so great and so un-cliched was the naturalistic acting of Taron Egerton (he also played Eddie the Eagle) and his singing! I was astonished to discover that he actually sang the songs, as he managed to sound so like Elton and yet without parody.
The film was made in collaboration with the singer himself and it finishes with a short update and some pictures of him with David Furnish. It was a shame the film didn’t get as far as his friendship with Diana but then that’s a whole nother story.
So there it is. Now showing at a cinema near you.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 