A story that sings
FAMILIAR FILMS ARE BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN WITH MIXED SUCCESS
WEST SIDE STORY (M)
Director: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
Starring: Rachel Zegler, Ansel
Elgort, Rita Moreno, Ariana DeBose
Rating: ★★★★
Always on the right side of its own history
A remake of West Side Story, one of the greatest movie musicals of all time? That does not sound like much of a good idea.
A remake of West Side Story, directed by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time? Now we’re talking.
With a plotline famously lifted from Romeo and Juliet, the starcrossed lovers and warring gangs of West Side Story first took to the streets in 1957 as a Broadway stage extravaganza.
Then came the 1961 movie adaptation, an instant classic which won both 10 Oscars and a devoted following that has stayed true across the generations.
For all its many virtues, it is not unfair to say that the original West Side Story has dated badly in some departments. While the choreography still dazzles, the dodgy casting of white actors in Latino roles and the wonky dubbing of many singing voices just cannot cut it with a modern audience.
Therefore the decision by legendary director Steven Spielberg to tackle a new West Side Story as his first-ever movie musical is a telling and effective one.
In collaboration with awardwinning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and ace choreographer Justin Peck, Spielberg has tactfully, yet emphatically crafted a different version that stands (and indeed dances) on its own two feet.
However, what remains crucial to the irresistible nature of the West Side Story effect – the glorious music score, the unique storytelling beauty of each individual song and the mid20th century urban setting – has not been tinkered with to any notable degree
Almost all of the characters and the motivations that guide them feel more realistically drawn this time around. The racial and class-based differences that inflame the tensions between the rival gangs of the Jets and the Sharks are much better explained, and immediately understood in ways they were not before.
While the key lead roles of Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) do not quite command our full attention here, the adrenalised song-and-dance sequences – boosted by some truly superb camera work – never once fail to connect, entertain, and often, truly excite.
There is also a small gift for fans of the first West Side Story in the shape
of the sustained presence of one of the original production’s leading stars, Rita Moreno.
There is one certain moment – and one certain song – that comes Moreno’s way late in this movie that true West Siders will never, ever forget.
West Side Story is in cinemas now on general release
LICORICE PIZZA (M) Rating: ★★★★ Selected cinemas
If you were alive in 1973 and have any vague recall whatsoever of that particular year, then you should immediately promote Licorice Pizza to the very top of your must-see list this summer.
Honestly, as a targeted work of very specific cinematic time travel, this invitingly laid-back hangout movie is nothing short of mesmerising.
As directed by the great Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood), Licorice Pizza very matter-of-factly picks you up and drops you off in 1973, and leaves you there for a few hours. While you get your bearings in a world where the jeans are flared, the collars are
wide, the hair is long and the vibe is oh-so-relaxed, your spirit guides will be a couple who remain unsure of what kind of couple they should or could be.
Gary (Cooper Hoffman) is 15 years of age and already past his use-by date as a TV child star. Now on the hustle for a new career as (I kid you not) a waterbed sales tycoon, Gary befriends Alana (Alana Haim), a photographer’s assistant some 10 years his senior. Gary is romantically inclined towards Alana, while she is platonically drawn towards someone she senses is a true kindred spirit.
Together, this unorthodox pair (and an ever-growing entourage) drift through a hazily idyllic summer in California’s San Fernando Valley without a care in the world. The aimless, floating feel of the movie is indeed its calling card. Once a viewer is immersed in this vividly rich environment, they may not want to leave. Though complete unknowns, Hoffman (son of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Haim are perfect for their roles, and more than hold their own with accomplished co-stars such as Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn.
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (M) Rating: ★k General release
Even in its turn-of-the-millennium heyday, the multi-film phenomenon known as The Matrix was only ever comprised of zeros and ones.
Now, with a belated fourth instalment coded into the program, all you will see are zeros everywhere.
To put it politely, this utterly baffling and compellingly awful sequel goes mighty close to becoming the worst movie of 2021.
All that is holding The Matrix Resurrections back from total oblivion is the comforting nostalgic rush long-time Matrix fans will feel once they see franchise figureheads Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne
Moss reunited once more.
While the pair do emerge from the wreckage of Resurrections with their dignity intact, they (and the fans) deserved better than this irksome train wreck.
The action unfolds in the present day where Neo (Reeves), now a game designer, is about to be dragged back into the alternate dimension which still haunts his heavily suppressed memories of the old days.
While we wait for him to fully cross over to the land of dark glasses, long black trench coats and (sigh) “bullet time”, Neo keeps accidentally crossing paths with a woman who looks a lot like his long lost gal pal Trinity (Moss).
An interchangeable crew of drab support players are never far away to complete two jobs.
The first is to participate in the movie’s many weirdly over-edited combat sequences. The second is to huff and puff their way through longwinded explanations of what is supposedly happening.