I'm not sure that, under the circumstances, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" could have been any better. It was as fantastic of a movie-going experience as I've had in years, to the point where there were moments when I felt like I was at a concert instead of a movie theatre. And there was a short list of things I wished the film contained but, ultimately, didn't.
But Kenny Ortega only had to work with what he had to work with, and we're lucky he had what he did have. Therefore, it's not worth wishing for more close-up shots of Michael that might have revealed illness or drug abuse. The cameras were being used to capture the broad scope of rehearsals for the purpose of fine-tuning choreography and the tour's artistic elements. And it's also silly to discredit the film for not dwelling on Jackson's death. If you feel the film is lacking because this is not addressed, than you simply wanted an E-True Hollywood Story-type affair that was never Ortega's intent.
I knew going in that the film was meant to show me the concert that I'd never get to see, as best as could be shown to me given the circumstances. I got that in a big way. It's reasonable to admit that "This Is It" is a cashing-in. What it is not is a selling-out.
Can you blame the folks at AEG for wanting to recoup some of the money it invested in this mammoth, theatrical undertaking? You need only see the film for yourself to understand what an expense it already was in the months before the concerts were set to begin. Likewise, it's hard to blame the Jackson family for so strongly guarding Michael's image after his death. There was little more you could do to the man to damage his reputation than had already been done by both the press and Michael himself.
So we get a concert documentary here that is largely guarded, and I know that some will criticize that. My opinion on that is that if you are critical of the lack of sorrow and sadness on display in "This Is It," then you were missing out on the abundance of joy present. The only sadness I felt was the profound sense of loss of this genius of an entertainer. When leaving the theatre, I saw men and women around my age and slightly older stuck to the backs of their seats as the mediocre title track, newly released from the Jackson vault, played over the closing credits. Tears were in their eyes. He's gone. It hurt as bad at the end of watching "This Is It" as it did at Jackson's memorial service.
But about the movie itself! Ortega was clearly a yes-man to Jackson, and "This Is It" is evidence of that. But newly-filmed sequences that were meant to play on a giant screen at the back of the stage for "Smooth Criminal," "Thriller" and "Earth Song" show that Ortega is no slouch. And even if all he did was find a way to deliver on what Jackson wanted, he deserves credit. At one point in the film, Jackson is complaining about an ear piece and the sound level and is so unintelligible in his dissatistaction that the audience in the theatre where I saw the film burst into confused laughter. Numerous times, in fact, we were reminded how difficult it was to please Jackson.
I liked these sections of the film because it kept "This Is It" from coming off as a buffed, warts-removed production. We see him singing at less than full strength at times. We watch him drop some lines to songs. And, perhaps most egregiously, we NEVER see the moonwalk! Though he teases us toward the end of "Billie Jean," the final song in the concert's sequence, it never materializes. After almost two hours of being reminded of how amazing Jackson's dancing was, the move most of us love the best never happens, just like the concerts themselves. It's a reminder of the fact that "This Is It" is only capable of providing 90% satisfaction. The other 10% can never be because Jackson is dead.
My favorite moments in "This Is It" were the ones in which his backup dancers and crew members watched Jackson performing alone on stage from an open area on the Staples Center floor in front of him. In these moments, they forget that they are Jackson's employees and, to their credit, dancers with the skill to keep up with him. Instead, they represent us...giddy fans who cannot believe their good fortune to be seeing what they are seeing.
I am grateful to Kenny Ortega -- no matter how rushed and for what purpose -- that "This Is It" exists. It gave me the same feeling as those dancers.
3.5 out of 4
But Kenny Ortega only had to work with what he had to work with, and we're lucky he had what he did have. Therefore, it's not worth wishing for more close-up shots of Michael that might have revealed illness or drug abuse. The cameras were being used to capture the broad scope of rehearsals for the purpose of fine-tuning choreography and the tour's artistic elements. And it's also silly to discredit the film for not dwelling on Jackson's death. If you feel the film is lacking because this is not addressed, than you simply wanted an E-True Hollywood Story-type affair that was never Ortega's intent.
I knew going in that the film was meant to show me the concert that I'd never get to see, as best as could be shown to me given the circumstances. I got that in a big way. It's reasonable to admit that "This Is It" is a cashing-in. What it is not is a selling-out.
Can you blame the folks at AEG for wanting to recoup some of the money it invested in this mammoth, theatrical undertaking? You need only see the film for yourself to understand what an expense it already was in the months before the concerts were set to begin. Likewise, it's hard to blame the Jackson family for so strongly guarding Michael's image after his death. There was little more you could do to the man to damage his reputation than had already been done by both the press and Michael himself.
So we get a concert documentary here that is largely guarded, and I know that some will criticize that. My opinion on that is that if you are critical of the lack of sorrow and sadness on display in "This Is It," then you were missing out on the abundance of joy present. The only sadness I felt was the profound sense of loss of this genius of an entertainer. When leaving the theatre, I saw men and women around my age and slightly older stuck to the backs of their seats as the mediocre title track, newly released from the Jackson vault, played over the closing credits. Tears were in their eyes. He's gone. It hurt as bad at the end of watching "This Is It" as it did at Jackson's memorial service.
But about the movie itself! Ortega was clearly a yes-man to Jackson, and "This Is It" is evidence of that. But newly-filmed sequences that were meant to play on a giant screen at the back of the stage for "Smooth Criminal," "Thriller" and "Earth Song" show that Ortega is no slouch. And even if all he did was find a way to deliver on what Jackson wanted, he deserves credit. At one point in the film, Jackson is complaining about an ear piece and the sound level and is so unintelligible in his dissatistaction that the audience in the theatre where I saw the film burst into confused laughter. Numerous times, in fact, we were reminded how difficult it was to please Jackson.
I liked these sections of the film because it kept "This Is It" from coming off as a buffed, warts-removed production. We see him singing at less than full strength at times. We watch him drop some lines to songs. And, perhaps most egregiously, we NEVER see the moonwalk! Though he teases us toward the end of "Billie Jean," the final song in the concert's sequence, it never materializes. After almost two hours of being reminded of how amazing Jackson's dancing was, the move most of us love the best never happens, just like the concerts themselves. It's a reminder of the fact that "This Is It" is only capable of providing 90% satisfaction. The other 10% can never be because Jackson is dead.
My favorite moments in "This Is It" were the ones in which his backup dancers and crew members watched Jackson performing alone on stage from an open area on the Staples Center floor in front of him. In these moments, they forget that they are Jackson's employees and, to their credit, dancers with the skill to keep up with him. Instead, they represent us...giddy fans who cannot believe their good fortune to be seeing what they are seeing.
I am grateful to Kenny Ortega -- no matter how rushed and for what purpose -- that "This Is It" exists. It gave me the same feeling as those dancers.
3.5 out of 4
.png)
0 comments:
Post a Comment