King of America

THE KING (A) - Eugene Jarecki continues to battle for the soul of America, with this examination of our nation's original sin as viewed from the backseat of Elvis Presley's Rolls-Royce. Did Presley embody the American dream as a poor boy from Tupelo, Miss., to international superstar, only to die on the toilet at age 42?

Jarecki, the meticulous chronicler behind "Why We fight" and "The House I Live In," captures dreamlike images of a diverse group of participants floating along America's back roads in the lap of luxury, ruminating on the rock 'n' roll icon and how he may have symbolized everything good and bad with our country. Filming mostly during the 2016 presidential campaign, the result is a profoundly moving gumbo of ideas.

Celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke (a producer) and Ashton Kutcher (surprisingly warm here) act out the ups and downs of celebrityhood, while sharp observers like Van Jones and Public Enemy's Chuck D (author of the classic line "Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me") offer a wider perspective. Mike Myers, representing the level-headed Canadian counter-balance, is not only quite funny but rather insightful in his analysis of Britain's conjoined-twin nations.

Random musical acts are sprinkled throughout and are lovingly recorded. Old-school artists like John Hiatt (who breaks down weeping in the presence of the spirit of the King) and Emmylou Harris share the spotlight with alt-hipster M. Ward, teenage yodeler Emi Sunshine, and acidic rapper Immortal Technique. The Handsome Family croons a patented murder ballad while gliding through the Southwest. Presley himself is a very real presence, through generous archival footage, following him from rags to riches.

Jarecki shares an aesthetic, as well as actual clips, with Thom Zimny's two-part HBO documentary "Elvis Presley: The Searcher," finding the complexity and layers to the man-child who embodied the hopes and dreams of popular culture for decades. The road trip as metaphor works wonderfully, as the Rolls breaks down a few times, perfectly encapsulating a nation (and its founding philosophy) growing long in the tooth. One man's American dream is another American man's nightmare; and sometimes that contradiction is embodied in one iconic soul.

GARRY WINOGRAND: EVERYTHING IS PHOTOGRAPHABLE (B) - A fascinating, if scattered, study of the work of one of the leading street photographers of the 1960s and '70s. His contemporaries and art critics have studied the hell out of his pictures, and sometimes it feels like they are overthinking and overanalyzing the work. But the images are undeniably compelling.

One ex-wife is on board to examine the man himself, who, if you piece this all together, appears to have been a bit of a sexist pig, but perhaps no more so than most men of his era. One of the hooks here is that Winogrand left tens of thousands of rolls of film undeveloped when he died in 1984 at age 56

BONUS TRACKS
From the closing credits of "Winogrand," early R.E.M. with "Catapult"



From "The King," Immortal Technique spitting "Rich Man's World":



Also from "The King," the angelic crooning of Loveful Heights, "Train Song":