Breathe
By Linda Cruz
So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough
Back to the howling old owls
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh, I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road
There are unmistakable sounds. Chords that from the first bars touch our hearts. There are voices, phrases, lyrics that mark entire generations and Elton John is an artist who has left an indelible mark for his authenticity in music, being this the vehicle that has led him through a complex and deep life, confronting his demons, overcoming them and achieving his redemption.
What reflections do you come to when you reach the pinnacle of your career, when you look back with the perspective that only the passage of time can give you? Sir Elton John shares it worthily in the documentary "Never Too Late", putting his story in the safest possible place, in the hands of his husband, David Furnish, who together with director R.J. Cutler, take fragments of interviews conducted by journalist Alexis Petridis for his biography "Me", published in 2019, mixing them with the beginnings of his career in music during the first part of the decade of the 70's and the last months of his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour in the United States, before his retirement from the stage.
Being Sir Elton John a person with a life full of ups and downs, it is not an easy task to create a film that includes all the nuances of his biography, and although it is known that he has gone through episodes of deep pain and darkness, the intention of this work is a document that shows us some aspects of his difficult childhood and the internal struggle throughout his life combined with his musical career, avoiding any possible sordidness. To achieve this, as his director R.J. Cutler told me, it was essential to make several creative decisions before starting the work of selecting the materials and the recordings of the last few years.
-When I met David (Furnish) and we started talking about making a film together, he was thinking of making it about the last few months of Elton's touring life because as you know, he had decided that he was going to stop doing live performances to spend more time with his family. I told David that for a long time I thought that the first five years of Elton's career would be a great basis for a film, not only because of the extraordinary achievements of that time, but also because Elton, who was already in those years very successful professionally, was deeply unhappy personally. He had decided to come out for Rolling Stone magazine, putting his career at risk, but he was determined that he would eventually follow his path to happiness and self-fulfillment. We realized that these two periods in his life, would be the backbone of the film and that the last few months of touring could be the nervous system that wrapped around that backbone."
To be released on December 13 through Disney +, the documentary "Elton John: Never Too Late" is a careful work that has not been reviewed in its process by the protagonist of the film, something that often happens when the subject of the story wants to choose what and how to tell it. And although the audiovisual is selective in the deepening of certain moments, it offers us memorable and unknown chapters of his life.
"We were completely free. Elton knew R.J., and he also knows me very well, so he understood the film." David Furnish stated. "Elton trusts his collaborators completely if he respects them and he just left us alone to go ahead and didn't see the film until it was finished. He gave us some really good notes, not to take things out, but to include more. He wanted to make sure that some people got the credit they deserved, thanking and supporting the film we made."
Sir Elton John, a pioneer in LGBTQ+ visibility, and a champion of human rights both through his activism and through his music and lyrics (many of them in collaboration with the legendary Bernie Taupin), shaped an image of personal freedom that resonated deeply with a generation seeking to break the barriers of repression. For its creators and the singer himself, "Elton John: Never Too Late" symbolically closes the circle with the last concert he gave in the United States, at Dodgers Stadium on November 20, 2022 (which can also be seen on Disney +), where in 1975, he gave an emblematic performance because it represents the absolute conquest in that country while he was going through one of the most difficult personal crises of his life.
- "It was very emotional because it's about the end of something very special and bittersweet and I'm very excited and happy to have him back home all the time, but it's also something that he's been defined by his whole life and it's an acknowledgement of mortality. He talks about his own mortality in the film in the middle of that final tour, because you can't help it if you're someone reflective like he is, I found that really very difficult, really hard to listen to because sometimes when you're in this world, you think it's going to last forever, and of course it's not going to last forever. It was very challenging." Her husband and also producer of the documentary noted.
"To witness the last weeks and months of this extraordinary career was a great privilege and something very moving for me as a filmmaker and storyteller. To be able to reflect on the shows we were filming... Elton and I would chat for a while before each concert and that's how we would catch up. You see those pieces of that throughout the film and I'm at a point where I'm just grateful. To be honest, it's a great privilege. This is the job that I have, where I get to float into people's lives and tell these stories and witness these incredible moments. And, you know, the little things that I wasn't even sure were going to get to where they are turned into monumental moments. I remember David telling me that he and the guys were going to come out on stage during the final show at Dodger Stadium and they weren't going to say anything, they weren't going to do anything. They were just going to come out and give Elton a hug, but when it happened, the whole stadium was moved and I'm sure everyone who saw it at home was equally moved because it was broadcast live; because there was a simple gesture of a family coming together and hugging, but it represented so much more. There was no announcement that there were going to be the two dads, simply this is a family like yours and it was. It was almost revolutionary in its simplicity and this is the kind of thing you can witness when you make these movies." Concluded director R.J. Cutler.
With this documentary, Elton John, who has touched the soul of all of us who listen to his music, tells us that much of the 'yellow brick road' has already been traveled.
The legacy she leaves us with that unmistakable voice and the piano as an accomplice, have given and will continue to give voice to vulnerability, resistance and freedom.
That is your passport to immortality.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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