"Elvis"

Must be the season "for your consideration".  Few things are Oscar bait like a good biopic, and in two weeks time we have two blockbuster films -- one about Marilyn Monroe, the other about Elvis.  It's interesting, because they had a lot in common.  Both got their first big breaks in the 50s.  Both were a little innocent and deeply abused and used up by the people around them.  Both came to dislike their public personas.  Both were accused of inappropriate sexuality and both died far too young ... far, far too young ... from overdoses.  Given all of that the two movies could not be more different.  "Blonde" is a hazy, disconnected, internal view of the world from the mind of a troubled woman.  Norma Jeane is the unreliable narrator and history is "twisted" to tell the story the creators wanted to tell.  "Elvis" is a Baz Luhrmann production.  It's loud and bright and fast-paced.  Contemporary music is intertwined with tunes of the times (yes, that is Doja Cat).  At times there are as many as 12 cuts per minute.  There are split screens and the narrator isn't Elvis.  We never get inside his head.  The tale is told by a different kind of unreliable narrator -- Colonel Tom Parker, on his deathbed.  Needless to say, the man doesn't have any regrets and tries to justify all of it.  Elvis and Parker, played brilliantly by Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, are spellbinding.  The strong script has you hanging on every word, even though we all know how things are going to go.  Funny, "Blonde" was raw and personal.  This film was not.  But both made a real impression.  And I cried a bit more at the end of "Elvis" than "Blonde".  Much like my visit to Graceland I found the individual person in this tale, not the icon.  The humanizing of these people is, perhaps, the greatest gift these movies give us.  In any case, it's going to be hard to make the call during award season.