I finally saw 2021's West Side Story last night. I think it's better than the 1961 film, primarily because Tony Kushner's screenplay cleared up many of the problems I had with the first adaptation. And, of course, Steven Spielberg's unrivalled instincts for telling a story with a camera are always a boon to a production. But this film has its own problems and, while I'd say it's not bad, it falls well short of the goal it sets for itself.
Poor Steven Spielberg seems like he's consistently failing to get himself back into the zeitgeist. His trouble is that, like a lot of the old guard in Hollywood, he spends too much time listening to younger people in Hollywood, the kinds of people who think specific bubbles of internet discourse represent the public appetites as a whole. If the U.S. public really were on the crusade Twitter makes it seem, West Side Story would be the perfect tale for our times. The story of racial tensions in lower class New York would be crucially relevant. But even the people who passionately push such dialogue aren't, I suspect, much interested in contemplating ideas in that arena as much as they are in using them as cudgels.
The misconception of public appetite diminishes the screenplay a bit, too, leading to awkward moments like dialogue early on between Tony (Anson Elgort) and Doc (Rita Moreno) in which the elderly Puerto Rican woman proclaims to him and the audience that he doesn't hate Puerto Ricans. We shouldn't need her to tell us that but those obsessed with the ever elusive phantom of internalised -isms would need that box checked.
Moreno gives a fine performance but changing Doc from an elderly Jewish man to an elderly Puerto Rican woman creates too many problems. It doesn't make sense that the Jets would use her shop as a base and it's part of the reason the attempted rape scene doesn't work.
Why would a frail old Puerto Rican woman be able to stop a gang of white guys from raping a Puerto Rican girl? The resolution of the scene in the 1961 film strained credibility, too, but the Jewish man would be more likely to be taken as a respected authority by the Jets, as much as they can respect authority. He also provided interesting perspective by comparing the Jets' problems with the ones he faced in Nazi Germany.
The whole tone of the attempted gang rape scene doesn't work, though, because I think Spielberg just didn't have the stomach for it. Anita (Ariana DeBose) too quickly and easily gets to a safe position of dignity and defiance than such a situation would allow her.
One of the improvements in the 2021 film is that the Jets have much clearer motivation. Spielberg establishes it right a way with a sweeping crane shot starting from rubble, passing over a demolition sign, and then establishing a whole neighbourhood being torn down. Anyone who thinks about the rampant gentrification in the U.S. to-day would see the relevance right away. The Jets, who shortly thereafter make their first appearance, are no longer in the bright clean colours of the 1961 film, but are dressed in dingy, greasy hand-me-downs.
You can see why they feel cut off from this world and desperate to form and defend their own community.
The romance between Tony and Maria (Rachel Zegler) works much better. Kushner irons out the nonsense in their dialogue about Maria wanting Tony to stop the rumble. She no longer demands it of him and sees his point when he says it's probably impossible. When suddenly he insists he's going to do it, they've believably worked themselves into an optimistic delusion.
I'm not a fan of Anson Elgort but Spielberg works a lot of magic with him. Spielberg clearly seems more interested in him than in Zegler. With pans and cutting, Spielberg adds to Elgort's muscularity to flattering effect when he climbs the fire escape or just leans provocatively against a wall. Spielberg seems similarly taken with Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll) who might be my favourite character in the film.
Rachel Zegler never comes out of the shadow of Natalie Wood and I don't even think Natalie Wood was that great in the 1961 film. Zegler's Maria is still like a vague idea of a pretty girl. Again, the insightful poetry Shakespeare gave to the dialogue of Romeo and Juliet is sorely missed.
Ariana DeBose is sexy as Anita and her grief when she learns about Bernardo (David Alvarez) is gripping. She's not so effective in her other big scene, the attempted rape, but I actually blame Spielberg more for that.
The songs are still good. The dance choreography isn't bad.
West Side Story is available on Disney+.
