‘Elton John: Never Too Late’: Toronto Review

Dirs: R.J. Cutler and David Furnish. US. 2024. 102mins

Threadbare tour-bio documentary Elton John: By no means Too Late combines the audio from a 2019 interview with the ’Crocodile Rock’ singer and pictures from his ultimate North American exhibits in 2022. Administrators R.J. Cultler and David Furnish (the singer’s husband) use classic footage and animation to leap between the Nineteen Seventies and his current tour, with Dodger Stadium because the throughline. There in 1975, John, wearing an iconic sequined Dodger baseball uniform, grew to become the primary solo rock act to promote out a stadium and, in 2022, it was the placement of his ultimate live performance in America. But neither story feels recent. In truth, they’re each so skinny it’s tough to even name this a puff piece. 

 The one factor holding Elton John: By no means Too Late collectively is the songs

A Disney documentary, Elton John: By no means Too Late premieres as a Gala Presentation at Toronto after which heads to London earlier than embarking on a restricted US theatrical run in November and bowing on Disney+ within the US on December 13. It’s a problem to know who will discover this movie of spare components interesting. Absolutely, diehard followers of the singer know the minutest components of his biography already – not least due to the far-more-candid 1997 documentary Tantrums & Tiaras, additionally directed by Furnish – and casuals are more likely to favor the crowd-pleasing model of his life seen within the musical biopic Rocketman. Finally, this may seemingly mix in with different rote ‘print the legend’ movies. 

It’s clear early on that this movie is poorly conceived. It deploys the frequent modern documentary framework of constructing a narrative round audio tapes – on this case with John, carried out by journalist Alexis Petridis for the singer’s 2019 memoir Me. Not like different situations the place this has occurred (in movies about Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick and Princess Diana, for instance), this topic is alive and effectively. Within the arms of Cutler and Furnish, the audio that powered John’s frank autobiography is re-tooled unimaginatively to recount the essential beats of John’s life: his abusive household; his musical coaching and influences (Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Winifred Atwell); and his time enjoying backup for main African American act just like the Temptations, the Drifters and Patti La Belle. 

That backgrounding carries viewers to the Nineteen Seventies, when John and his songwriter accomplice, lyricist Bernie Taupin, went on a prolific five-year run that witnessed the singer produce 20-plus albums and numerous hits, and headline Dodger stadium. It additionally included John confining himself in an abusive relationship together with his supervisor and accomplice John Reed, and creating a raging coke behavior to self-medicate his melancholy and loneliness. As soon as once more, none of that is notably new data. Relatively, the pleasure derived from these scenes will principally quantity to classic pictures, footage of his star-making present at LA’s Troubadour in 1970, video of ’Yellow Brick Street’s recording session, and a touching story about how his duet with John Lennon at Madison Sq. Backyard — a present that might be Lennon’s ultimate dwell efficiency — led to the Beatles singer reuniting with Yoko Ono. 

Listening to the identical tales once more can be alright if Cutler and Furnish didn’t drive feed an undercooked modern storyline into the edit. The current-day sequences, which weave out and in of the walks down reminiscence lane, are frustratingly empty. We start 9 months out from John’s 2022 Dodger Stadium gig, and test in with him at every main cease. Versus the frank biographical data, these behind-the-scenes moments – John video chatting together with his children, recording his podcast ’Rocket Hour’ and thanking his longtime band for his or her fantastic enjoying — are overly managed. You recognize you’re solely seeing the most effective of the singer. 

When intertwined, the 2 timelines wrestle to cohere to a satisfying finish. All the ultimate gig at Dodger Stadium is anti-climatic, totaling three partially carried out songs: ’Somebody Saved My Life Tonight’, ’I’m Nonetheless Standing’, and ‘Your Tune’. Whereas it is smart to spend a lot of the movie abbreviating the jukebox hits for the good thing about time, it’s odd to not let followers luxuriate in these comforting earworms by enjoying them of their entirety. As a result of in the long run, aside from just a few quippy anecdotes, the one factor holding Elton John: By no means Too Late collectively is the songs.