Elton John: Never Too Late (2024)

Elton-John:-Never-Too-Late-(2024)
Elton John: Never Too Late (2024)

Synopsis: It presents the never-seen concert footage of him for the past 50 years, his handwritten journals, and his videos with family all these years.

Elton John is not an ordinary artist. He is perhaps the best performer that the music world has seen in history. Everything that he presented to us through his artistic presentation will never be duplicated again. I have a strong feeling that there is not going to be another person like him in the years to come. His music is a combination of rock, blues, funk, and pop fused into captivating, sparkling records that include ‘Bennie and the Jets,’ ‘I’m Still Standing,’ and (one of my favorites) ‘The Ballad of Danny Bailey’. There aren’t many people quite like Elton John; he is always collaborating with other extraordinary artists such as The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, etc. He is an incredible child prodigy on the piano who steadily rose to become one of the most stunning musicians to step on the planet.

As you might imagine, I see a lot of Elton John’s songs in our household; everyone has playlists including his music and I am pretty sure that we have a few vinyl records to spare.

I was somewhat in disbelief when I saw that a documentary on him would be featured in the Spotlight section of the New York Film Festival. Taking a break from international arthouse cinema was definitely something that I had to do in order to be able to sit through R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s Elton John: Never Too Late. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met, as the film does little to enhance the story of the legend, nor does it romanticize the process of getting to be the Rocketman. The project is similar to many biographical films made by ‘bigger’ production houses. While seeing the use of Elton’s character may be endearing for many, the story does not assist the audience’s purpose of seeing the project.

Cutler and Furnish possess what any biographer would love to get access to: five decades of Elton John show business footage, recordings, and a range of behind-the-scenes content. The project did not provide a coherent structure, so it introduced a lot of content, but there was no purpose for it because there was no direction. The thread of Never Too Late is two appearances of Elton in Dodger’s Stadium, one in the middle of his popularity in the mid-70s, and the second when, he probably, put an end to the concerts in 2022.

Many people know the former if they love his music or watched the film Rocketman. In 1975, he dressed up as the baseball team’s player with a lot of shiny embellishments and performed at Dodger Stadium for 110,000 fans over a two-day period. As for the latter, that was during the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. That was the last show-closing scene from his life as one of the greatest showmen.

From the very beginning, one is clearly taken back to the point of transition in the artist’s life. It is the height of his career, both in the creativity and business side of things, and he wonders what will happen when he retires. However, it is precisely within these two points that the film starts elaborating the two new threads that recount his journey from a classically trained musician in England to going on a farewell to fans around the world. It is kind of a beginning and an end of the Rocketman. Some places such as Elton John have been repeated so many times. This even Dexter Fletcher scripted in his 2019 biopic with Taron Edgerton. The artistry of Elton’s music shows quite the opposite of what Elton grew up as a stuffy child. Where he had already helped the songs of the backing bands like The Drifters.

However, it is most fitting, in Never Too Late, to still not feel an artist’s cheerfulness or energy in the interviews.

Regardless of the enormous challenges that Elton was forced to give up, Elton did transform the music industry, and it is worthwhile for every artist to read and take examples from how this giant went from ‘rocking’ out with Woman, to producing the Very Best of Elton John. He did not, on the other hand, lose a large part of that majesty and magnificence. At best, you experience the vastness of his musical soul through the performances we are shown: old or new, they are ALL magnificent. Most Elton fans would point to the famous tag of Lonely’s funniest moments during his extra performance with The Who, which was televised as a real historic moment. For instance, the ‘Concert for the People of Kampuchea, which was held to raise money for the Cambodian Red Cross, was a significant success when Elton gave his all to a roaring crowd.

In addition, his turbulent relationship with his parents and drug use during his teenage years and the height of his career is something he speaks about candidly. His life starts to revolve around people like Winifred Atwell, Roy Williams, Bernie Taupin, and John Reid, and no matter how essential Agneta was, he was unaware of the monstrous storm that would destroy not just the individual, but many of them.

By the two moments in Never Too Late, the audience understands the essence of the documentary and the purpose for which Cutler and Furnish made it. The title, which comes from the song featured in the live-action Lion King of the same name, implies the ability of modification to change whether for something you want to correct or to forgive.

As Elton once mentioned in the documentary, it is an opportunity to pray over the past and help those dear to him; his spouse and children so that none of them go through his horrific struggles. This is the reason why he wants to hang his boots. He wishes to be present in their lives, encourage them, and nurture them, which he never got from his own father and mother. Elton respects the past without being resentful; he appreciates everything that took place because of the new perspective he has. Although most of the film does not portray such personal emotion in terms of props, these moments do have Elton showing emotions which he presents in his best and most unforgettable songs. In the documentary’s post-modern era installment, very few feelings are expressed and even then, a lot is suppressed. The idea of looking back in order to move forward is completely swallowed by pointless drivel.

You don’t get anything out of it, even if you are a fan.

To put it more elegantly, it does not come across as sensitive and exposing, rather, a bit clinical and restrained. One has the anticipation of behind the camera more playfulness and some degree of improvisation for a man who has a catalog filled with dazzle and cover page looks. Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream: A kaleidoscopic mumble of decades revolving around a flawed musical expert. You can tell what Morgen was able to do when he had all the archival footage at his disposal. And then, as a difference, Never Too Late is the epitome of monotony and blandness. It’s unfathomable that so many docs on famous personalities turn out as mediocre due to filmmakers’ inability to interpret what they hear in a style, any style. They take too logical an approach with not enough depth of engagement.

When Alex Ross Perry was making Pavements (pavements which are someday going to be shown at the festival in the same section), he declared: I wish to lead a charge of directors who care enough to highlight and portray music figures in a more elaborate and creative manner that’s consistent with the acclaimed made them artists in the first place hence the musically angled focus.

An intriguing question is why a film like Never Too Late is screened alongside a project like Pavements, which has many slices that honor the band’s past and glory using myriad filmic elements and innovations. They seem to be on opposite ends of what can be created by a director or a producer. Cutler and Furnish have windows to the shining world of the Rocketman but want to explore the worn-out clichés of modern times about banal life stories and pictures.

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