| Spielberg should be SO proud of West Side Story | |
| Last Edit: DistantDrumming 03:30 am EDT 03/18/22 | |
| Posted by: DistantDrumming 03:29 am EDT 03/18/22 | |
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| I finally caught up with y'all and watched West Side Story on HBO Max tonight. I'm not the biggest Spielberg fan and I was, admittedly, one of the (many?) people who felt like this would be a serviceable and unneeded remake of a film classic. Don't get me wrong -- I thought it was wonderful that the film was authentically cast -- but that wasn't enough to justify this remake in my mind. But unlike, say, Gus Van Sant's entirely unnecessary remake of Psycho, West Side Story was simply thrilling. Did I like EVERY choice that Spielberg and Kushner made? No, of course not. But, minor quibbles aside, at the risk of sounding a touch hysterical, I genuinely think this is a masterwork. Spielberg very clearly has this material in his bones. The film is a showcase of dazzling cinematic technique. But he uses that technique to aide the screenplay and the score, not to distract from it or work against it. I honestly hope this isn't Spielberg's last musical. And, judging by the acclaim the film has on Metacritic, I'm clearly not alone. It's a shame it didn't perform commercially. Not to detract from Jane Campion's excellent work on Power of the Dog, but I have to wonder if Spielberg and the film would be taking home Oscar gold later this month if audiences had embraced the film the way critics did. By the way, I wonder if the producers (of the Oscars or of the film) ever considered having the cast perform on the Oscars telecast. Yes, it would be a lot of work to restage a number (like America) for the Oscars stage, but with such seasoned, talented musical theatre performers in most roles, it could have been wonderful. |
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