West Side Story reviews

[Greg]

Does anyone think that it is now possible for West Side Story to substantially outperform our expectations with its number of nominations, and, in what categories? I have to say, Oscar nominee Ansel Elgort has a very strange sound to me.

[Mister Tee]

There’s a certain “boomer-esque” idealogy that nothing can be done well that was done before or, specifically, done during a certain age group’s “halcyon days.”

Honestly, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's possible you're on to something. I recently became familiar with a psychological term (maybe danfrank would be familiar with it) called the Reminiscence Bump -- it suggests we have more vivid memories of things that occurred between ages 10 and 30 than from any other periods of our lives, and specifically the years between 16 and 25 tend to be where our favorite books/music/movies come from. I can certainly say that many of my most ecstatic art experiences come from that era -- The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Company, Cabaret, Sometimes a Great Notion (the novel), One Hundred Years of Solitude; I always assumed this was because it was such a fertile period in the culture, but maybe it's just my age group.

(Saturday Night Live was better in the first five years, though -- that's non-negotiable.)

So, yeah, I wouldn't care to see a remake of Midnight Cowboy, even with the best actors imaginable. But I think I'm just uninterested in remakes of any kind, even of those that pre-date me by years/decades. Ben-Hur was before my conscious movie-going time, but I still found the idea of re-doing it ridiculous (most critics and audiences agreed). I just can't work it up to care about someone's rehash of material I've already seen. As I've noted here, I even lost my enthusiasm for Zadie Smith's On Beauty about halfway through, when I realized it was using Howards End's plot; I had some of the same response to Kurosawa's Ran, as well. Perhaps because I'm a writer, picking up and riding the rhythms of a narrative are a great part of the pleasure I take in art. When I know where things are going -- because of familiarity with an earlier version -- I have nothing to do but observe the changes on the margins, which is a lesser experience. It's of course possible an artist can take a fresh enough approach to engage me despite some acquaintance with the material -- Gerwig's Little Women was an astonishing re-invention, and Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley had significant enough deviation from Purple Noon that I was taken away by it. On the other hand, the Coens' True Grit, while admirable enough as a piece of craft, left me cold, because I didn't see anything new enough in the construction to draw me in.

(There's always going to be a personal "how it hits you" element to this gestalt. I couldn't imagine being unexcited about Fosse's Cabaret, but I remember reading one critic -- I believe in Life Magazine -- moaning that this Sally Bowles character had been stalking him what seemed his entire life, and he'd had enough of her. And, if he'd read Berlin Stories, seen I Am a Camera on stage and screen, and Cabaret on stage, maybe for him it was true.)

I'm obviously going to see this West Side Story, but, though people are highlighting that Kushner has re-written parts of it, no one seems to be suggesting he's truly re-conceived it -- and there's nothing in the trailer to lead me to believe it's any more than a very good movie version of the same story. This may be enough for some people, but I'm always looking for something newer and more creative. So, I remain skeptical of it, and for sure can't work up enthusiasm for its being judged maybe the year's best film.

What is your take on stage revivals? I know the medium’s different but, for example, Follies purists who claim that the original 1971 Broadway version is untouchable would have missed out on the stunning 2018 National Theater production if they were insisting things stay frozen in amber.

This is a somewhat different issue, because, unlike movies, famous stage productions (till the recent trend of recording them for the Lincoln Center library) exist only in the memories of those who've seen them, so it's absurd to take a position they shouldn't be revived. But those who have seen earlier productions have every right to think they'd prefer to spend their time/money on something newer. I saw a Rex Harrison/Rosemary Harris production of Heartbreak House in the 80s that I cherish -- but I can envision a theatre veteran many years my senior thinking, that damn thing's 65 years old, and they're still trotting it out?

And I do think Broadway has come to rely way too heavily on bringing back the old war horses. It seems we never go more than a few years without another Death of a Salesman/Virginia Woolf/Raisin in the Sun (or, on the musical side, The King and I/Gypsy/Fiddler on the Roof). Broadway is already overloaded with Disney transfers and shows that will apparently never close; it's hard for me to work up the slightest excitement over another show I saw long ago being resurrected one more time.

[flipp525]

My critic buddy just told me he now thinks that voters are going to go for West Side Story much more than Belfast or The Power of the Dog (both of which he's seen) and expects it to win Best Picture. It's just too satisfying from a gut level.

I haven’t seen West Side Story or Belfast yet. But having seen The Power of the Dog, I think it might be too fucked up and dark to take the top prize in the times we currently live in (although, I did really like it quite a bit). Something more hopeful feels more in line with the current zeitgeist perhaps.

[Sabin]

My critic buddy just told me he now thinks that voters are going to go for West Side Story much more than Belfast or The Power of the Dog (both of which he's seen) and expects it to win Best Picture. It's just too satisfying from a gut level.

[Big Magilla]

Well, I for one, would be happy if West Side Story and Nightmare Alley turn out to be my two favorite films of the year.

I have nothing against remakes per se, but it's rare that they improve upon the original. There are exceptions, of course. The 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet is better than the 1936 version by far as well as several others. The 1961 version of West Side Story has stood the test of time but there are things they can be improved upon and from the early reviews it looks like they many have been.

Just because there's never been an Oscar-winning remake of a previous Oscar winner doesn't mean that there couldn't or shouldn't be and one thing that the Oscars always like to do is go in a different direction, so maybe this is the year for that.

What I do know is that a rather dull movie year suddenly has a bolt of energy. It will be interesting to see what the next few weeks bring.

[flipp525]

There’s a certain “boomer-esque” idealogy that nothing can be done well that was done before or, specifically, done during a certain age group’s “halcyon days.”

What is your take on stage revivals? I know the medium’s different but, for example, Follies purists who claim that the original 1971 Broadway version is untouchable would have missed out on the stunning 2018 National Theater production if they were insisting things stay frozen in amber.

[dws1982]

(As for your analogy, I'd point out that only two of those four Star Is Born's made the best picture list, so this would still be well ahead.)

I'd say two-and-a-half: I think part of the reason The Artist was so popular is that in a large part it's a riff on A Star is Born with a happy ending.

[flipp525]

I guess I did read it pejoratively, but not without some context. There’s a certain “boomer-esque” idealogy that nothing can be done well that was done before or, specifically, done during a certain age group’s “halcyon days.” It’s a really limiting and somewhat pervasive idea and I see it a lot on this board. So, that’s where I was coming from. It just comes off as curmudgeonly.

That said, I haven’t seen the movie and really can’t judge it yet. And this is not (and never was meant) as a personal swipe at you, Tee.

What is your take on stage revivals? I know the medium’s different but, for example, Follies purists who claim that the original 1971 Broadway version is untouchable would have missed out on the stunning 2018 National Theater production if they were insisting things stay frozen in amber.

[Mister Tee]

Should the film get nominated for best picture, won't it be basically the 4th time this basic material has done so? -- thinking of both 1936 and 1968 nominations for Romeo and Juliet?

Why would they even care about this? They’ve nominated four different A Star is Born iterations for all sorts of awards over almost 90 years.

You seem to be reading pejorative into this sentence that I certainly never intended. I was merely noting it as interesting fact -- much the way I noted a Peter Dinklage nomination this year would make the third time Cyrano has produced a best actor nomination. (As for your analogy, I'd point out that only two of those four Star Is Born's made the best picture list, so this would still be well ahead.)

You don’t seem thrilled to see West Side Story… If it was a piece of shit, I doubt Rita Moreno would have been involved with it.

Again, I never implied it was a piece of shit; I have too much respect for the talent involved to think that. I simply have the same reaction I do when Broadway rolls out revivals: wishing they'd instead poured all that energy into something new.

[flipp525]

Should the film get nominated for best picture, won't it be basically the 4th time this basic material has done so? -- thinking of both 1936 and 1968 nominations for Romeo and Juliet?

Why would they even care about this? They’ve nominated four different A Star is Born iterations for all sorts of awards over almost 90 years.

You don’t seem thrilled to see West Side Story… If it was a piece of shit, I doubt Rita Moreno would have been involved with it.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
Apparently the KIng-Richard-or-bust gang -- Jeff Wells, Scott Feinberg -- has belatedly realized they're aboard a train going nowhere, and have come out full-force for this as Oscar prospect. Feinberg -- the epitome of Green Book-Oscar-blandness -- has rocketed the film to the top of all his charts.

Maybe in 2021, it's no longer inconceivable that a remake of a Best Picture winner can win Best Picture.

I want to quote the clownish thing that Jeffrey Wells wrote:

Portions of Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story (20th Century, 12.9) had me in tears. Dude tears, of course — the eyes well up but you don’t go all the way and start sniffling with Kleenex. I’ve been listening to that original 1957 Broadway stage show album all my life, and earlier tonight it all came back and started flooding through me. I tried to tweet my reactions as best I could on the Metro North train back to Wilton. The final 25 or so minutes don’t work as well as they should, but I forgave the film anyway.

This man should not have a job in 2021.

[Mister Tee]

I remember thinking, during the opening diner scene in 1941 -- the cooks flipping food to In the Mood -- that Spielberg really ought to try a musical. The Anything Goes opening of Temple of Doom also suggested that. I still very much wish he'd opted for something original, or at least something that wasn't done reasonably well the first time. But I'm not surprised he'd have pulled this off well. I just continue to question why I should get excited about a remake of something I saw when I was in grade school.

In Sondheim's book Finishing the Hat, he talked about how he'd always wanted Cool/Krupke reversed for the Broadway production, as they were in the film -- but, when he saw the film, he realized that Jerome Robbins had been right to do them the opposite way originally. So, this seems a classic case of "taking out the improvements". Incidentally, back when the movie came out, nearly everyone I knew -- and, again: we're talking about grade school kids -- knew about the switch and debated it, because everyone was familiar with the Broadway cast album. Hard to remember now, but there was a time cast albums were the top selling records of the year, and universally known.

It's very interesting to hear that the actor playing Riff is being singled out. It always struck me odd that Chakiris got all the supporting actor ink in the '61 version, when Riff seems a more prominent role, and Tamblyn (already an Oscar nominee) was perfectly good in it.

Apparently the KIng-Richard-or-bust gang -- Jeff Wells, Scott Feinberg -- has belatedly realized they're aboard a train going nowhere, and have come out full-force for this as Oscar prospect. Feinberg -- the epitome of Green Book-Oscar-blandness -- has rocketed the film to the top of all his charts.

Should the film get nominated for best picture, won't it be basically the 4th time this basic material has done so? -- thinking of both 1936 and 1968 nominations for Romeo and Juliet?

[Sabin]

Well, not reviews per se but early reactions plus an inside scoop:

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/11/west- ... 234682024/

Also, my film critic buddy has just seen the film and described it as very, very good and absolutely in the Oscar race unless it's just a total bomb, in which case musicals are done for. But he thought it was terrific and told me the following:

- Steven Spielberg directing a musical is just a great thing to behold. Up and down it looks and moves great.
- Gorgeous filmmaking. Occasionally some of Janusz Kaminski's choices can be a bit much. A few too many lens flares. But gorgeously visual.
- Biggest deviation is that the film reverts to the original Broadway order of musical numbers, so "Officer Krupke" goes in Act One while "I Feel Pretty" is after the deaths. The result is that "I Feel Pretty" is certainly no longer an uplifting moment, but also the film just moves a lot quicker and perhaps breathes a bit less, which is a net loss. Also, no Spanish is subtitled.
- The whole cast is fantastic. He cites Mike Faist as Riff as a standout. He said Rita Moreno is excellent but it's a large cameo. She also makes it much harder to forget Rita Moreno when you watch Ariana DeBose as Anita.