West Side Story (2021)

 

When I first heard that Steven Spielberg was going to remake West Side Story, my first instinct was, Why? But the more I thought about it, the more I thought maybe that was one that could use a fresh look. As much as the 1961 movie is a classic, some aspects to it have really not aged well. Also, I was just excited at the thought of Spielberg doing a musical. He had flirted with the genre several times throughout his films, with big musical numbers in both 1941 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But he had yet to make a full blown musical until now. Now having seen it, I can say he absolutely crushed it. 

By now, most people probably know the plot of the film. Set in the West Side of Manhattan which is quickly being demolished to make way for the likes of Lincoln Center and newer and more expensive high-rises, two rival street gangs are fighting for the territory that remains. One gang is the Jets, led by Riff (played by Mike Faist) and the other is the Sharks, led by Bernardo (played by David Alvarez). After their latest scuffle is broken up by Officer Krupke (played by Brian d'Arcy James) and Lieutenant Schrank (played by Corey Stoll), Riff feels it's time the two gangs had a rumble and goes to recruit the newly paroled Tony (played by Ansel Elgort) to join them. Tony refuses, wishing to go straight after his recent stint in prison. Still, he shows up at the neighborhood dance where he encounters Maria (played by Rachel Zegler). Maria came to the dance with Chino (played by Jose Andres Rivera) at the insistence of her brother, Bernardo. It's love at first sight for the two, which angers Bernardo, who is less than thrilled with the match. In the heat of the moment, Bernardo agrees to Riff's call for a rumble so long as Tony attends. Maria and Tony meet again later that night on the fire escape outside her apartment and make plans to meet up for a real date the next day. Meanwhile, tensions continue to grow between the Jets and the Sharks, setting the stage for an ultimate showdown between the two gangs for control of their neighborhoods. 

The film is directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Tony Kushner and the two throw themselves into the material with a sort of energy and fearlessness that is infectious. This new version of the classic musical has the right amount of reverence for the original stage show and movie, while also carefully fleshing out the story and characters in meaningful ways. The changes they make are small in the grand scheme, yet meaningful. In this version, Doc is replaced with his widow Valentina (played by Rita Moreno), who is a bit of a surrogate parent for Tony. I also appreciated that they made wannabe Jet member Anybodys (played by Iris Menas) canonically transgender in this film, whereas previously he was portrayed as a tomboy girl. They also move around a few of the musical numbers, with "Maria" and "Tonight" once again being back to back with "America" moved to the following morning. Still, the songs remain the same iconic songs Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim originally wrote, so much so that I found myself singing along a couple times without even entirely being aware of it. The musical numbers are wonderfully realized by Spielberg and choreographer Justin Peck, utilizing a bit of Jerome Robbins original choreography from the 1961 film in certain points, but largely breaking free and creating their own for much of the film. There is so much energy and fire behind these numbers it took my breath away to watch. The actors perform it flawlessly as Spielberg captures it all with the help of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski as the camera moves around and throughout it all. I was continuously blown away at the way Kamin shot this movie, the way he and Spielberg use light throughout the movie, with the scope frame and the lens flares. Early in the film, when Tony and Maria first meet under the bleachers at the dance, with the light pouring in between the wooden slats, adding a dream like feel to the sequence. Of course, all this changes once they're discovered and reality intrudes. Kamiński's photography in the film is lush and gorgeous in a way that had me enraptured to the screen. The film clocks in at a whopping 156 minutes, but moves with such passion and the speed of a freight train that I hardly felt it at all.  

The cast of the film is top notch. Rachel Zegler blew me away as Maria, both in her singing and acting. She really captures Maria's aching desire to find her own independence and not rely on Bernardo and Anita. Maria grows a lot over a remarkably short time period the film takes place in and Zegler captures it all perfectly. Ansel Elgort has been getting a fair amount of criticism in his performance as Tony, but I thought he did well in the roll personally. He handled the singing and dancing quite well, to my surprise, and also captured the struggle of Tony quite well, who wants to go legit and break free from the Jets, but still finds himself getting pulled back in. Mike Faist gives us a very different Riff than I was familiar with from Russ Tamblyn's iconic portrayal in the original film and this film is all the better for it. Don't get me wrong, I love Tamblyn's Riff, he was my favorite character in the original film. But Faist breaks free from that and gives us a Riff that feels a bit more on the edge and a bit more dangerous. There is a devil may care attitude and nihilism to Faist's Riff that I find very compelling. Ariana DeBose is great in the role of Anita, who is both Maria's best friend and her brother Bernardo's girlfriend. She is a fantastic singer and dancer as well as handling the more emotional aspects of the role with great care and sincerity. David Alvarez does well with the role of Bernardo, grounding it nicely and capturing that Bernardo is only doing what he thinks is best in the way he looks after Maria and pushing her to date Chino. And of course we have the amazing Rita Moreno as Valentina. It's a supporting role in the film, but a meaningful one. I loved her scenes in the film with Ansel Elgort and the way they played off one another in a surrogate parent-child relationship that worked perfectly. She also gets to perform "Somewhere" this time around, recorded live on set and absolutely crushes it. 

I had been looking forward to this film with anticipation ever since I saw the first trailer for it and I have to say it managed to exceed even my high expectations. Everyone in this film is firing on all cylinders with fire and energy to spare. There is a reverence to the original stage show and 1961 film while also breaking free from it, while also grounding the material with a bit more grittiness. It's smartly updated without removing anything we loved from before. The same themes of racism, gentrification and immigration are all here just as they were in the original. It's every bit as good as the original film if not, dare I say it, maybe even a little better. But then again, why bother remaking something if you're not going to do it as well or even better than before? Either way, Steven Spielberg and his cast and crew definitely understood the assignment.