My pal Ken Levine recently received a screener DVD of the new Spielberg-directed West Side Story, watched it and wrote a review on his blog. I recently received a screener DVD of the new Spielberg-directed West Side Story, watched it and now I'm going to send you over to read his review. I haven't seen Into the Heights so I can't compare the two films as Ken does but otherwise, I share his take on this West Side Story.
Great cinematography and editing. Some stellar performances. Superb art direction.
But it's still West Side Story. As Ken says, "So who are these guys? Broadway theatre kids or an ugly mob? I don't know how they could be both." Well, they are both. In fact, they're well-choreographed Broadway theatre kids even when they're trying to kill each other. On a stage, things aren't so literal. You play along and pretend there are 76 trombones up there or that you can't see the wire making Peter Pan fly. In a movie, you're in a real setting. You don't forgive the wire as easily.
And as I said of the 1961 movie of West Side Story, "It's one of those films where I find myself thinking, 'This is really well-made but I'm having trouble caring about those characters.' The one time I saw the musical staged live, I admired the heck out of the dancing, the singing and the music but, again, didn't get deep into the story."
I didn't then. I didn't this time. And I was reminded that the ending is a tremendous downer…which may be another reason some people didn't go see this new version. I think the folks who made this movie — it felt like there were thousands listed in the end-credits — did the best-possible version of the material anyone could do. But I still just sat here admiring the skills involved in making it all happen and never got into the characters and what they were doing and why.