Rocket Man: The Minimalist Narrative of The Film

The shy little boy Dwight, growing up, was accompanied by his father's refusal and his mother's indifference, as well as his innate musical talent. Later, he entered the Royal College of Music and came across a young lyricist named Bernie Taupin. Later, he became an indispensable name in the history of world music - rock superstar Elton John.

Pictured here is Elton John

Directed by Dexter Fletcher and starring "Egg Egg" Taren Egerton, the song and dance biopic "Rocket Man" tells the story of The British national treasure musician Sir Elton John, using gorgeous and strange songs and dances to show Elton from a loveless little boy to a pop music king, all the way to success, loss, self-searching and love life.

Elton's real life didn't lose the script: a loveless childhood, great achievements, and the pressure that came with it caused him to be profligate, addicted to alcohol, addicted to drugs, and severely binge eating. He had been married to women, and his last lifelong partner was a man. He and True Love held same-sex weddings, founded the AIDS Fund, and are still active in the field of music creation to this day.

In fact, most of the legendary musicians are like this, and life is more exciting than movies. "Rocket Man" and last year's hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" look like a routine, using the most classic music of Jazz John and "Queen" to connect the most valuable life nodes of the characters. However, the form of the "Rocket Man" song and dance film is more unique, and the viewing experience is more enjoyable.

At the beginning of the film, it used a song "The Sluts Are Back" plus exaggerated styling and the momentum of the concert superstar appearance to make the audience's blood boil, and unexpectedly let a gorgeously shaped "egg egg" cross the corridor and directly come to the drug rehabilitation mutual aid center, cleanly revealing his "drug addiction and alcohol shopping addiction" all kinds of rotten sores. After that, the film unfolds in Elton's self-description and memories, the orange-red sequined Demon King suit, wings, horns, and headdresses, which were once used to wrap the exaggerated clothes used to protect himself, are peeled off little by Elton himself, until he sees the little self who was once called Dwight again.

The charm of song and dance drama is that a story and a life can be completed with a dance and a song, and the artistic charm of music and dance itself can complement the narrative and integrate into a different expression charm. Rocket man has been very successful in this regard. The more important stages of The first half of Elton's life, from childhood to youth, from youth to adulthood, the trajectory of life calculated in "years" is shown with props and typical scenes, rotating and jumping, and the transition is completed in one go, and it is full of imagination of song and dance creation.

For example, the impressive adult Elton lost himself under the great pressure of success, fell into the pool with excessive alcoholism, but saw his young, quiet childhood self sitting in front of a mini piano, pulling himself back from the brink of depression and self-destruction for the first time. If you use a drama to represent, this long and painful self-struggle will take at least 20 minutes to explain, and here it only takes a "Rocket Man" time.

The song and dance drama is really suitable for expressing this interaction between reality and dream, and the music it uses is a classic that has been recorded in history, and it has a strong semantic meaning. Sir John's own preferred exaggerated costume also has its own dramatic effect, and his second-hand clothes have always been the "favorite" collected by fans, as long as the film is faithfully reproduced, it can have a good visual presentation.

Music creation is the author's life experience and feelings at each stage of life, and it is most appropriate to put it back into the biographical image. As an adult, Elton once wanted to reconcile with his parents, but sending a name watch and showing kindness could not be exchanged for the hug that had never been there, and the honest emotional life only gained was the mother's indifferent expression and heartfelt words. Under the glow of the superstar, Elton has always been a timid and shy child, overwhelmed by this loveless world, so he had to use pompous and desperately cover himself, fortunately, there is music that did not completely sink him.

The child was heart-wrenching, but it was also the child who saved the adult Elton twice. Once lifting him up from the abyss of alcoholism and depression, and once giving Elton a hug he never wanted, allowing this once drug-addicted and depraved man to complete the reconciliation with himself and find a way to "self-love". How lethal is the biological mother's sentence "No one really loves you", and how tearful it is to finally "rise from the broken road, I will love myself again".

Some people say that the narrative of the film is thin, but I think it is not at all. The film looks gorgeous and full, but the narrative is minimalist. A short and important heterosexual marriage in Elton's life is only expressed in three scenes: wedding, room separation, and breakfast breakup, which is completely consistent with Elton's real life experience and the weight of this marriage in his life, both in terms of time ratio and keywords, which is very accurate. And there is also a couple's duet, the whole paragraph is short and extremely rich.

"Egg Egg" Taren Egerton's singing skills are also very good, both for the film itself and for his own performance. To be honest, if it is a plot-oriented biopic, "Egg Egg" may not be able to be a character with such a rich life experience, but once it is sung, his vitality overlaps with the real jazz. Real singing, and singing skills, will definitely add charm to the role of song and dance.

Rocket Man may not be entirely cinematic, with the characters there and the great achievements of the characters there. In the discussion of the love of the film, how much is given to the film itself and how much is given to the character archetype, there is no way to distinguish. They are one, they are presented together on the screen.

Like is like, don't bother. If you like the great Sir John, like the legendary era he created, go to the theater and feel the flying life again. (Shuai Jie)

(The original title is "Rocket Man: Embrace Yourself, Embrace Love")