Elton John: Never Too Late is an emotional film suitable for John’s target audience and it somewhat resembles the official oil portraits commissioned by the astute self-assured members of the royal family. The movie is available to stream on Disney+ and was also made available for a short time. It is co-directed by David Furnish, Elton John’s husband, and R J Cutler, who has a reputation for directing non-fiction films. Rocket Entertainment, which was responsible for manufacturing the biopic “Rocketman,” is also the producer for this movie. This film contains footage of John’s live performances as well as audio montages of images which is a similar narrative technique to what the drama “Rocketman” employed to showcase musical numbers.
Assuming you are acquainted with the blueprints of John’s life, there are a few events including John’s stellar performance at Troubadour Club in Los Angles, the best albums and singles that were released between 1969–1980, his strong relationship with the songwriter Bernie Taupin, his substance abuse and rehabilitation, his traumatic relationship with his manager and first lover John Reid, his efforts to accumulate the courage to come out of the closet, his choice to settle down and have children, and finally, his attempt to deal with his poor person’s looks (he claims that “with sufficient ambition, one’s appearance is irrelevant, as is one’s voice” he says, “there is no requirement).”
What stands out in this context is the part on John podcast and further John’s struggle with the thought of his own transience. As he himself confessed, he is quite old to have become a father and mentioned to the journalists that he is retiring so that he could spends every possible minute he has left with them and Furnish. “That’s when you begin to ponder about mortality,” he explains, then seems to be worried the most: “My sons… they do think about my mortality… because they know how old I am. Of course there are things I wish to see, like them getting married and having kids, but I doubt I would be there for them.”
Moscow sensibility means that the film is less a singular work than a patchwork of ideas and materials that are strung together by the subject’s luminous sound and his strong but still unforced character. Its rhythms tend to be punctuated and uneven especially when footage of his music and of John performing is being screened. But to give credit, the documentary sustains an extraordinarily long embrace of a creative impulse before it settles down, which is longer than other documentaries of such a nature do, without the restlessness which leads to cuts to an interview.
However, there is one complete song and that is a performance of “Whatever Gets You Through the Nightmare” by John and John Lennon with his friend at Madison Square Garden. Also there are plenty of moments where it cuts away just when the viewer is getting engrossed in whatever it happens to be showing which is even more annoying than a film that gives some insight into the story and then goes on.
The movie “Elton John: Never Too Late” can be best described as a waking nightmare for Elton John, as the movie is predominantly based on contracts, letters, press clippings as well as home footage as he was rife with memories and shame, along with all the time spent out of the public eye. He elucidated that the only time waiting on someone would bring him joy were the early years and the images which accompanied the footage only served to support that theory. The timeline between 1974-1980 marks a rough patch for John, he was buried in drugs and was miserable in nature, vice versa to how he came out as bisexual, in an exclusive interview with rolling stones, during that period. He has been recovering ever since 1990 and has advocated for it, throughout his career.
Seeing how far John has come in his quest of self-contentment is truly heartwarming.
It is fascinating to witness the difference between his past performances as a singer and his recent ones as well. His previous performances included the ability to hit a killer falsetto while possessing a deep vocal range, but has reasonably lowered his range an octave recently, only to avoid attempting high notes. There is a distinct difference, gravity has taken the space which wasn’t present before and with that wisdom is rendered audible.
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