Friday, January 7, 2022

West Side Story (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, and Ariana DeBose.

This is an excellent movie musical, with strong performances from everyone in the cast, exciting choreography, and some smart rewrites that help to strengthen an already-strong story. I expected to be swept away by it, but for some reason it ultimately leaves me a little cold, despite having few actual qualms with it. I'm still working out why, but I think some of it may have to do with Spielberg's reluctance to use the musical numbers *as* the narrative, instead allowing them to serve as background music while his cinematography does the bulk of the work. It's a small gripe and may fade on future rewatches, though, and this is definitely one worth rewatching. Bring on those big budget musical movies!

How it entered my Flickchart:
West Side Story > Gas Food Lodging
West Side Story > Till Death
West Side Story < Nightcrawler
West Side Story > Broadcast News
West Side Story > Zodiac
West Side Story < Lady on a Train
West Side Story < Crossing Delancey
West Side Story > Dawn of the Dead (2004)
West Side Story > Brothers
West Side Story > The Royal Tenenbaums
West Side Story > Pride and Prejudice (1995)
West Side Story > Regarding Henry
Final spot: #523 out of 3523, or 85%.

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