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Elton John: Never Too Late review – thin portrait of a musical genius

The superstar’s husband and documentarian RJ Cutler have assembled a documentary that benefits from access but provides a limited view

Candid and intimate moments – as when John amuses himself with a plastic doll of the late Queen Elizabeth doing her British wave or when he tells his sons to stop pestering each other on a video call from the studio – are few and far between. Footage of the young gonzo rock star – in the flamboyant costumes and shades, hammering away at the keys, leaping and bounding on stage and singing to the mountain tops while emulating Little Richard and Jerry Lewis – has the joy powerfully stripped from it by John’s voiceover. But the film-makers, borrowing from Chris Marker’s visual style in La Jetée throughout Never Too Late, recreate the scene with a succession of still photos unfolding over the concert audio, as though emulating the motion and the emotions in the moment.

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