I was thrilled to death when I heard that there will be a new version of "West Side Story" and that it will be directed by no other but Steven Spielberg - it is one of my all-time favourite musicals ever and Spielberg for me epitomises big-budgeted, glamorous and shiny Hollywood so I just couldn't understand negative reactions online by the fans of 1961. movie - people complaining that the old movie was perfect as it was and it should never be touched again. I think the main reason for this confusion is the fact that movie audiences refuse to accept remakes, while constant and perpetual remaking is the heart and soul of the theatre - live audiences are used to the re-imagining and re-direction of live plays, in fact it is welcomed and expected that each generation must bring something new and fresh to the known scripts. "West Side Story" started its life as a theatre musical and its lyricist, late Stephen Sondheim have recently said that he loves the fact that it goes on with new talents and energy. I am very familiar with the musical, since in addition to Original 1957. Broadway Cast album I also own versions by André Previn, vibraphonist Cal Tjader, Oscar Peterson and Stan Kenton Orchestra, but the very first time I was familiar with the music was trough Barbra Streisand who have extensively covered songs on her "Broadway" albums - I have also seen it live on the theatre stage but strangely I never liked the celebrated 1961. movie; for all its hoopla, choreography and 10 Oscars I had something else in my head and imagined it far more powerfully than what was on the screen.
The new movie was apparently finished long time ago but its premiere was perpetually postponed because of the world's epidemics - the resulting financial disappointment is something that gleeful critics never fail to point, but its not about movie or Spielberg, it is simply that audiences are staying away from the cinemas. There was a particularly nasty review in "The New Yorker" that said how "rich and famous artist spends a hundred million dollars to revive a corpse with the blood of young people" - I refused to to read it after the first sentence. And naturally there was similar backlash from a constant snowflakes complaining about everything - that this movie continued old racial stereotypes, etc - same people who complained about "Porgy & Bess" or those who wanted to destroy old movies with Bessie Smith because they didn't like what they saw. I had to wait forever (thrilled with the phenomenal trailer) because of our lockdowns and also had to keep in mind that majority of people immensely dislike musicals - when the time finally came, I went to see it by myself because I didn't want anybody to distract me with moaning and complaining. (I still remember with embarrassment how the whole cinema moaned and laughed when Streisand sang again during "Yentl" - seriously people, ever heard of musical? This is back in my homeland and people around me were absolutely dead set against musicals.)
Dear reader, I was so excited and hypnotised with everything on the screen, that I had a smile and tears rolling down my face like idiot - from the very first opening whenThe Jets start dancing and gliding trough the streets of derelict Manhattan neighbourhood (that was to be demolished) I was completely besotted, smiling, humming and drumming with my fingers - Spielberg took the old musical and pumped everything to maximum, making everything bigger, massive, louder and better. I felt as he took ancient piece of furniture that was too long covered with the dust and polished it to perfection, gave it a new coating, made it spectacular as it should always have been. This is what I had in mind when I listened music, not skinny, fake-tan Puerto Ricans from 1961. movie. Also must mention that the newly recorded music sound brilliant. And the odd experiment of untranslated Spanish didn't bother me at all, because it made sense and everything was still easy to understand. For me this was the movie craftsmanship of the highest order and I was enjoying it immensely, specially when Tony and Maria finally meet on a dance and later sing to each other on the balcony - Spielberg played me like a violin here and I was in the movie Heaven right than and there.
Unfortunately, its not 100% perfect - it goes a little bit too long and there were clearly some compromises done to avoid any political incorrectness. The final 30 minutes were very downbeat and even though this has nothing to do with Spielberg (basically this is the story) it felt as it was dragging on forever. At this point I even start to feel dislike for angelic Rachel Zegler (Maria) who started to get on my nerves being so one dimensional (not surprisingly, she is set to play Snowhite in upcoming Disney movie). Actually to be honest, I wasn't seriously fascinated with neither Tony nor Maria as much as I enjoyed charismatic Puerto Rican couple David Alvarez (boxer Bernardo) and Ariana DeBose (fierce Anita) who for me were real stars of the movie, but originally were just supporting characters. I must not forget Mike Faist as Riff (one of The Jets) who was constantly antagonist until in one particular moment, he breaks your heart. The original Anita (Rita Moreno) was also here and she was fine, though not terribly important - she is a small, supporting character in a movie about young people. I was also intrigued by Corey Stoll as policeman, who had enough charisma to stand up to both Jets and Sharks - when he speaks, they all stand still. I don't remember when was the last time I enjoyed musical so much - in fact I am already looking forward to go and see it again. In the cinema.
No comments:
Post a Comment