Elvis Presley: The Searcher lets viewers appreciate Elvis fully anew

The Washington Post

The HBO documentary has Elvis Presley "brought down from his lofty and lunatic afterlife as an icon, reminding us that he was once just a man," says Hank Stuever. He adds: "With a raft of producers that includes Priscilla Presley, director Thom Zimny’s insightful and stirring 3½ -hour HBO documentary, Elvis Presley: The Searcher (premiering Saturday), is a fine demonstration of how the passage of time can help place even the biggest and most overloved superstars into a blessed relief. The film is a calm and deeply empathetic recounting of Presley’s life, split in two. The first half takes us up to 1960 and his career-interrupting military service; the second half is, well, the rest of Elvis: movie star, obsessive workhorse, sweat-drenched showman, tragic figure."

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