West Side Story

Discussing a film purely on its dramaturgy is like describing a Van Gogh as 'a painting with a bunch of flowers'.

Those are the words of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, coming on the tail end of his praise for director Steven Spielberg's work on 2021's WEST SIDE STORY.  It may be why this film did not do so well during its Christmas release.  How many in today's audiences have a high level of understanding as to what cinema, quality cinema really is?  "This is the reason why cinema is written not in theme, story or character but in painterly, symphonic terms" del Toro also stated.  I'll bet that quote is lost on many, those who would counter that they prefer "substance" over "style."  Poor souls who don't realize the substance is the style.  That an artist gives you everything you need - dramatically and otherwise - in the form, if one one knows how to look at it. 

Spielberg, as I suspect is true for many directors, long wanted to make a musical.  The 1961 version of the Jerome Robbins/Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents stage show was hugely influential on the future wunderkind, and the material seems to have selected him.  Clearly he was energized and inspired.  It shows in nearly every shot.   Complicated bits, truly virtuoistic filmmaking as when the kids enter and dance at the gym, and simple long shots of a decaying neighborhood on the brink of urban renewal.  Such a labor of love was this that I suspect he was not too dismayed when the film didn't break the bank (or even make back its production costs) like many of his previous.   For a man whose films have grossed billions over the past five decades, artistic satisfaction was the driver here.

Screenwriter Tony Kushner based his adaptation more on the Broadway show than Robert Wise's much beloved film.  He also expands certain characters and even makes one of them - Anybodys (iris menas) - transgender.  Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original, is Valentina, formerly known as Doc, who mentors Anita (Ariana DeBose), Bernardo (David Alvarez), and Romeo and Juliet-esque leads Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler).  I was very pleased that Moreno didn't merely have the obligatory cameo; she also receives an executive producer credit.   The cast is impressive, with the exception of Elgort, who comes off as stiff and even apathetic.  I never bought his performance. 

The choreography is newly designed for the most part, with occasional nods to Mr. Robbins.  It is as fresh and exciting (and perfectly executed) as ever.

You can rightly call this WEST SIDE STORY unnecessary, especially as it remains in late '50s NYC, with the central conflict between youth gangs -  the Caucasian Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks.  The songs are the same and mostly in the same order.  You could say that a new generation deserved an update, though great effort was taken for period authenticity.  Spielberg and Kushner do not lend a heavy hand in trying to make their version more relevant in a time when division among Americans is perhaps unprecedented.  I really like that the director did not provide subtitles when characters spoke in Spanish, which indeed would "simply be doubling down on the English and giving English the power over the Spanish." 

WEST SIDE STORY is also gorgeously filmed by longtime Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kaminski with Panavision Panaflex Millenium X12 and C- and T-Series lenses.   The Panaglow brightness is opened up for some seriously optimal lighting.   The filmmakers do occasionally get carried away with the lens flare (it is so noticeable it almost seems to be a supporting character), but it may quite favorably remind you of some of Spielberg's classic films.  And SUPER 8.