West Side Story (2021)
dir. Steven Spielberg
Rated: PG-13
image: ©2021 20th Century Studios
In the weeks and months leading up to its release, the question surrounding the new film adaptation of the smash-hit 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story was, “Do we need this?” Will a remake of a 65-year-old show – already turned into a successful film adaptation in 1961 – justify itself? The answer is a resounding, if slightly qualified, yes. This new version of West Side Story justifies itself through sheer technical achievement and the virtuoso skill of iconic Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.
After half a century of making feature films, Spielberg demonstrates that he’s capable of reattaining the height of his powers, seen in the likes of now-classics like Jaws, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan. (Obviously, I could easily add a dozen other titles to that list, but I won’t belabor the point.)
With the help of his frequent collaborator, the playwright, author, and screenwriter Tony Kushner – who penned Munich and Lincoln for Spielberg, as well as the director’s upcoming semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans – Spielberg makes his version of West Side Story feel incredibly vital. He confirms that the story, originally inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is, sadly, as relevant today as it was when it was originally staged.
Oh yeah, and the incredible Sondheim lyrics and Bernstein music sure as hell don’t hurt anything, either.
Outside of the “Do we need this,” question, I was initially concerned that keeping the 1957 setting, instead of updating the story for today, would be a way of avoiding current racial tensions instead of facing them head on, which was one of the most daring things about the original show and ’61 film adaptation. The comforting nostalgia and safe distance of the picture’s setting might let some viewers off the hook. “Look how far we’ve come,” a not-so-intellectually-rigorous audience member might say as they metaphorically pat our society on the back.
It's undeniable that the current creeping authoritarianism in these United States, built on a foundation of grotesque nationalism, nativism, and us-vs.-them mentality, has seeped into almost every imaginable facet of life. (Race is, obviously, still a central point of contention both in the movie and our current society; same as it ever was.)
The raw hate spewed by the all-white Jets gang in the movie is sickening, but it’s inextricable from the point the movie makes about it, namely that it is poisonous and destructive enough to obliterate even the purest true love. Kushner leaves in the anti-Puerto Rican racial epithets that the Jets lob at their rival gang, the Sharks, who the Jets see as usurping their rapidly shrinking home turf. Those hateful slurs are echoed in the anti-Asian hate speech and assaults documented in the media in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, to say nothing of the vile racism that Black people have faced in the wake of the Black Lives Matter uprisings.
The movie briefly, but undeniably, spotlights class – what insightful journalist and social critic Isabel Wilkerson more accurately describes as our nation’s caste system – in its opening minutes. Part of the Jets’ anxiety and frustration over the Puerto Rican Sharks moving in on their turf is that affluent whites are also taking over their neighborhood.
New York City police Lieutenant Schrank tells Riff, the angriest and most disaffected member of the Jets, that rich whites are transforming this part of the city into their own person playground. As in the original film, in a discreet nod to gentrification – a term that didn’t even exist in 1957 – the first bit of story we get is Spielberg’s camera sweeping over a sign in front of a condemned building, heralding the coming construction of Lincoln Center. Lt. Schrank chides the Jets when he tells them that they are the children of the loser poor white trash who were too stupid or lazy to get out and make something of themselves.
Preserving the original time period of West Side Story is also a way for Spielberg to play in the sandbox of classical Hollywood musicals, of which he proves himself exceptionally capable. Every song and dance number comes to ecstatic life under Spielberg’s direction. His camera is constantly on the move in these sequences, harnessing the power of crane shots and exuberant master shots that capture the beauty of human bodies in motion. Choreographer Justin Peck reimagines Jerome Robbins’s original dance moves. Peck wanted to ground the dance sequences more in reality, but he kept the beauty and sweeping symmetry of Robbins’s original ballet aesthetic.
As it takes its inspiration from Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story lives or dies by the performances behind the lead characters, the two young, star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria. One criticism I caught wind of following the initial release of West Side Story – try as I might to avoid critical reaction to a movie, writing about it over three months after its release inevitably means some things are going to filter down to me – was Ansel Elgort’s turn as Tony.
Some critics didn’t buy Elgort as the reformed tough and Jets co-founder (with Riff). (On parole after serving a year for his culpability in the violence of a previous gang rumble, Tony has decided to clean up his act.) While it’s true that Elgort might not quite have the requisite sharp edges to play a wholly believable street gang leader – part of that, for me, probably comes down to my first exposure to Elgort being his turn as Gus in the adaptation of the hit YA novel The Fault in Our Stars – I came away thinking the actor did a serviceable turn as Tony. Elgort brings a tenderness to the role that is compelling. The actor’s singing voice never left me in awe, but it’s quite lovely and melodic to listen to.
Making her feature film debut, 20-year-old Rachel Zegler is outstanding as Maria. Zegler possesses that indefinable classical Hollywood studio “it girl” quality, a phenomenon made famous by Clara Bow in the Roaring Twenties. Watching her on screen, it’s easy to see why Spielberg cast her as Maria.
Unfortunately, especially considering the racial tension theme central to West Side Story, Spielberg and his creative team apparently looked no further than Zegler’s skin tone when considering how appropriate it was to cast her as a Puerto Rican character. Zegler is of Columbian and Polish descent. The production fails to take into account actual cultural heritage, which stings, especially because the Puerto Rican identity of half of the characters are absolutely central to their identities, their motivations within the story, and our understanding of who they are.
I found the casting choice particularly confounding when I realized that iconic Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, who played Maria’s future sister-in-law Anita in the 1961 version of West Side Story, acted as an executive producer on Spielberg’s remake. Moreno turns in a wonderful performance in the new version as Valentina, the proprietor of a neighborhood drug store who gives Tony a fresh start with a job and a place to stay after getting out of prison. Kushner expanded and changed the role of Valentina from the source material to make the character more central to the story.
The tone-deaf casting of Maria aside, you can’t deny the screen chemistry that Elgort and Zegler share here. Sparks fly whenever they’re together, which makes their doomed romance all the more affecting. The pair, with Spielberg and Kushner’s help, capture beautifully the intoxicating highs of first love. The movie captures it so well that even this sad, cynical bastard bought into it without hesitation.
The spectacular songs might have also had something to do with that. Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein’s original lyrics and compositions never failed to give me chills each and every time one of the famous numbers started. America, Maria, Cool, and Tonight – which openly questions the myth of American exceptionalism – are all brilliantly executed. In a particularly inspired bit of filmmaking, Spielberg stages Tony’s love song, Maria, so that his rapture practically gives him the power to walk on water.
Also brilliantly executed are Spielberg’s set design and set decoration teams’ efforts to recreate late-1950s New York City. I could feel the authenticity in every tiniest detail of the film’s mise-en-scène, from the hundreds of period cars to the laundry lines stretched across the tenement buildings. Shot using a mix of real locations and studio sets, the film overall has that Golden Age Hollywood feel, invoking, in moments, a dream-like quality.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is an absolute delight. The spell it casts is more hypnotic than that of the original film version, which won the award for Best Picture at the 34th Academy Awards. This new version has also been nominated for Best Picture, and knowing Hollywood’s regard for its own history and mythological status, I wouldn’t be surprised if West Side Story is the Best Picture winner at the 94th Academy Awards as well.
Why it got 4 stars:
- Spielberg is in top form with West Side Story. Overall, his movie is even more powerful and delightful than the 1961 original.
Things I forgot to mention in my review, because, well, I'm the Forgetful Film Critic:
- The cinematography is gorgeous, and I like lens flares as much as the next person, but Spielberg and legendary cinematographer Janusz Kamiński flirt with overusing the technique here.
- Kushner made the bold choice to change the character of Anybodys from a tomboy to transgender. It was an effective way to remind the audience that people are othered in our society for many reasons other than race.
Close encounters with people in movie theaters:
- In addition to being available in select theaters (which is undoubtedly a phenomenal experience), West Side Story is available for free with a Disney+ and HBO Max (how I screened it) subscription. It’s also available for rent or sale on most streaming platforms.