The only film from Chile in this year’s AFI DOCS, it also will be the sole movie to be presented fours times, twice as a lead in to “Bronx Obama,” and twice as part of the “Short Program: Gone Hollywood.” Just the festival logo will get more screen time.
Marcelo Rossi is a man with no friends. With his long sideburns and big sunglasses, everyone in Valparaiso knows him as “The Chilean Elvis,” but, frankly, I think he looks more like Johnny Cash. In this black-and-white & color short from Marcello Kiwi, the spry 77-year-old impersonator is caught on stage, backstage, at home, and in the streets. Always in Elvis-style wardrobe, he chats with the off-screen director about music trends, dance moves, and, of course, his long-dead mentor, the King himself (“He died a fat man.”). He carries around a large sheaf of clippings like a badge (something he probably carried while working for the revenue service).
There are no gimmicks here, just an admirable, barebones slice of impersonatin’ life.
