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Mambo
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TMDB Reviews
4 years ago
West Side story: Gritty morality tale with an emotional punch. 85%
Not having seen the stage production of "West Side story" or its first film version, which I understand is regarded as a classic, I really don't have a point of comparison for this new film version of the long-running musical theatre staple. Of course, with the US being so effective at exporting its pop culture around the world, I was aware of songs and scenes from the original Hollywood film, which had positive associations for me, even though I live in Australia.
The story was inspired by a much earlier tale, which I won't mention here because...spoilers. In any case, the second film version (presumably...at least as far as US film versions go) of this story is set in a slum in New York in the 1950s (the "West Side" of the title). The setting is very nicely established, with an opening shot of some partially destroyed buildings which a sign states are being demolished to make way for the gentrification of the area. The flats in the high-rise buildings nearby have a suitably "slummy" look without the aesthetic being overdone. From out of this no man's land emerges what turns out be a gang of Anglo background, known as "The Jets". You can tell that they they are bad because they soon terrorise the neighbourhood with dancing and singing, with no one daring to stop them. It has to be said, at this point, the realisation of a musical in the modern era hasn't lost my interest. Fit young blokes dancing and singing and clicking their fingers in time in the streets of a big city doesn't seem all that ridiculous now.
We soon learn that The Jets have a rival group which they want to remove from 'their turf', a gang known as "The Sharks", which are of Puerto Rican ethnicity. The basis of The Jets' animosity to The Sharks is basically an issue of race (and that is also the basis of the police department's animosity towards The Sharks as well). The Sharks do not 'belong' in the US and they should 'go ba...
Chad Jordahl
TMDB4 years ago
Good production. I liked the performers, except Ansel Elgort as the lead male, Tony, who I found to be uninteresting. I never got into the story or the songs.
A couple of other thoughts:
- Carefully choreographed Broadway-style dance routines severely diminish the menace of street gangs.
- Love at first sight is a myth and is a very bad reason to kill or be killed. (Intense attraction, curiosity, and lust at first sight, sure, but love takes longer.)
4 years ago
Full review: https://www.tinakakadelis.com/beyond-the-cinerama-dome/2021/12/28/it-all-begins-tonight-west-side-story-review
This film is a still (sadly) all-too-relevant story about how hatred infiltrates communities and the struggle to find a place to belong. West Side Story is about creating a home, however, you choose to define the word. Unfortunately, the miscasting of Tony brings down what could have been a near-perfect movie. His role is simply too large to be ignored and impossible to compare to his co-stars’ formidable, sublime performances.
Filipe Manuel Neto
TMDB2 years ago
A very welcome remake.
I must be one of the few iconoclasts who has not declared here his undying love for “West Side Story”, one of the most successful and acclaimed musicals of all time, and which continues, to this day, to seduce crowds of spectators. As I already had occasion to say then, I expected something else. The story is based on the ethnic conflict between a band of young Anglo-Saxons from New York and another band of immigrants from Puerto Rico, and the unlikely love between the leader of the American gang and the sister of the leader of the Puerto Rican gang. I know that, at the time, the issue was not as delicate as it is today, but I couldn't help but feel that there was a certain prejudice against Latinos. Just think that the main actress was not a Latina, but an Anglo-Saxon whose face was painted and who didn't even sing in the film.
Blessed be Steven Spielberg when he had the idea to make this remake. The film honors the source material and respects the older film, but corrects the biggest errors I had pointed out, presenting us with a more enjoyable view. It is not a work without problems, but they are different types of problems than those I had pointed out for the 1961 version.
The director's attentive and meticulous eye is manifested in the careful design of the sets and costumes, in the very complete and profound development of the characters, and in the extraordinary dance choreographies, metrically designed and executed with the greatest professionalism. I also really liked the design of the locations, and the insertion of the entire story in a New York neighborhood that was about to disappear to make way for a modern office space. The soundtrack and songs are, essentially, those that we all expected to find, and are very well performed by the actors, sometimes during filming, instead of in a recording studio.
One of the aspects that I liked most about this version was the extreme brutality of the rival groups. This time, th...
