Elvis & Nixon is like listening to some late-afternoon oldies.
Not many thrills, but Michael Shannon brings the kitschy nostalgia.
For better or worse, cultures choose what images they feel represent them.
And for apparently countless Americans, that image is of the time Elvis Presley met President Richard Nixon.
If you dont believe me, just ask the National Archives.
Very, very odd manners.
Embodying those many tics are Michael Shannon as Presley and Kevin Spacey as Nixon.
Drenched in his full regalia, Elvis shows up at that White House lawn and… then waits.
Nixon, meanwhile, is presented as perpetually annoyed and hopelessly unhip.
Hell be damned before he lets that pelvis saunter into his Oval Office.
That is essentially the first half of this very brisk film.
Within this lens frame, Shannon again is a spaced out marvel as Elvis.
There is some conflict about Jerry getting home in time to spend Christmas Eve with his fiancees parents.
But really the films catharsis comes the moment Spacey and Shannon begin riffing.
At that point,Elvis & Nixonis like slipping on some late afternoon oldies and enjoying the kitschy nostalgia.
Elvis & Nixon is now playing at the Tribeca Film Festival.
It is in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 22.
