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(More customer reviews)How'd this DVD slip by me for five months? I was pleasantly surprised to find this at the soon-to-be-extinct Virgin Megastore* in Orlando last night. (*In his commentary with director/partner David Furnish, Elton also laments the death of record stores.)
Maybe as an early, and risky, personal exercise following his then-five-year recovery from intense rehab, Elton John allowed Furnish to film him "warts and all" during the 1995 tour promoting his "Made in England" CD.
Even during his now-well-known downward spiral (circa 1975-1989) of drug addiction and promiscuity, Elton appeared intelligent, funny, and more than capable of making state-of-the-art pop music. Then I saw his interview with David Frost, around the time of "The One" single and CD, in which he revealed his newfound sobriety and his relationship with Mr. Furnish (though I don't think he mentioned him by name). He truly sounded like he'd turned a personal corner. It looks like, happily, the progress has continued ever since.
Anyway, I only counted two tantrums. At the outset, he's ballistic before filming the video for "Believe". His "reason" was that a bag got left in a car, but soon allows that he "hates @#$%ing videos" and is insecure because he's less "photogenic" than Madonna or George Michael. [I've always found his videos, "Believe" included, to be brilliant. I was glad that, in the commentary, he acknowledges both the song and video as excellent. The film, being the "slice of life" that it is, only showed Elton's reaction to the single's somewhat disappointing chart performance (it narrowly missed the Top Ten in both the UK and US).] Later he abruptly stops playing some tennis, swatting the ball away and throwing his racket. After much prodding over an apparent three-day funk, David finally gets Elton to admit he was ticked off by...some lady who dared to wave at him and say "yoo hoo" during his game! Oh, I also counted only two tiaras, both in Elton's touring "closet" which is of course bigger than my home.
The most touching moments include Elton's last moments with his grandmother and the Oscar acceptance speech* during which he thanks her; a tearful bit with Elton and his mum in which she recalls his drug addiction days and talks about his late father; and reminiscing about a young staff member who had succumbed to AIDS. I'd be remiss not to note the ensuing segue to an event for Elton's AIDS foundation which continues, 13 years on, to raise lots of money. (*for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King, which he wrote with Tim Rice.)
Fun deleted scenes feature Elton singing dirty songs at the piano, plus bits with Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue, and Madonna.
Very interesting, and a happy post script to the fairly somber, stuffy Philip Norman book I've been muddling through for the past few...well, forever.
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