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- TV-PG
- HBO
- TV-PG
- HBO
Summary The two-part three-hour film takes a look at the pop legend's life up until the 1976 Jungle Room recording sessions with new interviews, never-before seen pictures and video.
- TV-PG
- HBO
- TV-PG
- HBO
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
Season 1 Premiere: Apr 14, 2018
84
User Score
Universal Acclaim
8.8
Summary The two-part three-hour film takes a look at the pop legend's life up until the 1976 Jungle Room recording sessions with new interviews, never-before seen pictures and video.
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
84
92% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
84
92% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Searcher is a spellbinding and grippingly revealing documentary. On the plus side, it eschews the tiresome talking-head structure, but doesn’t always identify who is speaking, which only occasionally makes you wonder who’s speaking.
The Searcher is filled with photos, home movies, and audio recordings that haven’t seen the light of day before. To make the most of what sets The Searcher apart, Zimny eschews talking-head interviews. ... It’s more of a down-to-earth appreciation of Elvis Presley’s unique gifts, and a clear-eyed explication of why and how he so often squandered them. The documentary isn’t a simplistic “rise and fall” cautionary tale, either.
There are a lot of reasons to love The Searcher, and that tape fragment (from the night Elvis and a pickup band turned a stately bluegrass waltz called "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" into a balls-to-the-wall jam) is a big one. Director Thom Zimny, who has made several well-regarded Bruce Springsteen documentaries, got access to everything in the Graceland archives, from home movies to ancient recordings of radio interviews.
The central argument in Zimny’s loving, but unflinching documentary “Elvis Presley: The Searcher” is that his openness and inquisitive nature is what made him the King.
The voice-over commentary that’s most valuable comes from musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, who deeply understand Presley’s music and motivations, and critics who’ve thought long and hard about Elvis, like Nik Cohn and writer turned producer Jon Landau. ... You’ll have your own moments of discovery. Elvis works his way on everyone individually.
The Searcher is at its best when it tackles the subject of Presley’s music on the music’s own terms, an impressive feat given the extent to which Elvis’ iconography has come to overwhelm the particulars of his recording career.
Elvis Presley: The Searcher is an art documentary, one supposes, and such things [the Beatles, uderaged Priscilla Presley and the affair with Ann-Margret) might be considered immaterial, if only the film weren’t so selective otherwise in integrating the personal with the musical.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 4 User Ratings
8.8
100% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 4 User Ratings
8.8
100% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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Production Company:
- HBO Documentary Films
- Sony Pictures Television
Initial Release Date: Apr 14, 2018
Number of seasons: 0 Seasons
Rating: TV-PG
Genres:
Awards
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 2 Nominations
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards
• 1 Nomination
MovieGuide Awards
• 1 Nomination
