I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong. Having witnessed a pretty mediocre decade of Steven Spielberg movies, I wasn’t too excited about him remaking a 1961 musical, which he’s never directed before. Plus, he’s remaking the musical in a year of already a host of pretty good musicals, including West Side Story’s offspring. Well my fiasco worries were misplaced; the aging wonder Spielberg takes a 1961 movie and translates it beautifully into 2021, proving simultaneously for West Side Story and Spielberg himself, that the great things in life are pretty timeless.
Spielberg doesn’t really stray from West Side Story’s original plot. On the Upper West Side in 1950’s New York City, gentrification and modernization are taking hold in the old neighborhoods. Hoping to grab whatever territory is left is 2 warring gangs: the Caucasian Jets, led by Riff (Mike Faist) and newly released from prison Tony (Ansel Elgort), and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo (David Alvarez). In the heat of summer, tensions are at a boiling point, with a “rumble” coming anytime soon. Before that though, there’s a community dance, where the Jets and the Sharks excitedly dance the night away with their girlfriends like Bernarndo’s Anita (Ariana DeBose). Also excited to be there is Maria (Rachel Zegler), attending her first dance. All that excitement grows when she locks eyes with Tony, and the pair, separated by faction, are also smitten by love, hoping that love can rise above all the anger and hate caused by their feelings for one another.
Much ado has been made about how Hollywood has gone remake crazy. While that’s true, it’s not altogether bad. Where the studios get in trouble is remaking essentially perfect properties. However, when beloved films have real flaws, like Pete’s Dragon or West Side Story, green light that remake! Plus, who better to remove mistakes than one of the greatest directors of all time? The big guiding light for Spielberg is making West Side Story like the ideal version of America: a melting pot of people and cultures. Easy first fix: Spielberg casts ACTUAL Latina & Latino actors instead of brown facing white actors like the original creepily does. And cast he does! Rachel Zegler is just radiant as the lovely, sweet Maria, in a star making performance. And like Rita Moreno (back from the 1961 original, great as ever) before her, Ariana DeBose makes Anita secretly the best character in the movie. There are no subtitles either; while frustrating for English speaking viewers, this choice keeps audience focus high, interpreting what the actors are saying through their expressions and other characters teaching Spanish words here and there and keeps your eyes riveted to the magic Spielberg puts on screen for your entertainment.
The Movie Magician. That’s what Steven Spielberg is when he’s operating as his best. Here, he sucks you in immediately, with set design, cinematography, and costuming that’s a shoo-in for Oscar Nominations galore: we’re in a place that time is paving over, with the unfortunate, too poor people stuck there while the neighborhood changes. But that doesn’t mean desolation: this movie’s about kids remember? The camera in the first hour of this movie might as well be another character, as it moves and flies around the screen, dancing along with the actors in the movie. You feel the restlessness, excitement, anger, etc from the Jets and the Sharks, traveling through their decaying, falling apart constructions sites and streets, ready to take the world head on, building towards the “rumble.” The minute after the rumble happens, the camera gets more still, as Spielberg makes us deal with the consequences for everyone. DeBose and Zegler emotionally wreck us with their heartbreak, and Spielberg turnsthose bright city streets into ominous nighttime nightmares, imposing and threatening to come down on Tony, Maria, and everyone.
West Side Story is a nice deep breath of fresh air. The best parts of the 1961 movie remain, and the worst parts are cleaned up: no more choking down the brownface. Steven Spielberg isn’t washed up, he was just waiting for the right movie to get a chance to direct, coughing up the 2010 phlegm. And that fresh air belts out all those beloved songs, as lovely as they were when they were written, letting your breath be taken away 60 years later as if no time has passed at all. Classic.