Miles2Go2 said: "bear88 said: "Miles2Go2 said: "Also, while I loved Spielberg’s and Kushner’s changes, I do feel this (as opposed to the 1961 version) is so much grittier and grounded in reality that the more “fairy tale” elements of the plot (some of which date back as far back as Romeo and Juliet) stand out more as unlikely."
I was trying to articulate this issue to my spouse last night after seeing the film. You did a better job. The realism was interesting and a perfectly legitimate approach, but by making me think about how unlikely Maria’s actions are, it removes some of their power.
I thought Rita Moreno’s “Somewhere” was a misstep, a meta moment that look me out of the film. Likewise, Kushner in several places writes dialogue that hammers the point home in language that doesn’t sound remotely realistic. Valentina’s remarks to the Jets was the worst example for me. Moreno gave a good performance but was ill-served by those choices.
Without getting into specifics, I didn’t care for the ending, and the movie kind of peters out. I was surprised by that. It made me appreciate just how well-acted and directed the original film was."
If you see my review from seeing it again today, you’ll see that a lot of my reservations from yesterday disappeared today. And in fact two parts of the film that you say worked the least well for you are the two that I connected with the most today.
If you think about these two young people being so damaged and traumatized by various societal pressures and life experiences (racial discrimination, sexism, poverty, gang involvement, almost killing somebody, prison, etc) that they’re just looking for an escape. Their basically “love at first sight” is that escape. Look at Tony’s excitement toward the end of the film as he packs for his escape with Maria. His best friend has just been murdered. He just killed someone. It’s pretty clear from the previous script that he’s not a sociopath. He is capable of experiencing guilt. He loved Riff. Earlier, he’s traumatized that he almost killed that member of The Egyptian Kings. He has a conscience. Yet he’s almost manically ecstatic.But as he tells Maria on their date at The Cloisters, he felt like he was falling until he met her. They represent something symbolic of escape (from all these traumatizing experiences and their current lives) to one another. When I also think about my own past tendency to fall in love both hard and fast, this makes sense.As Grace Jones once sang, Love is The Drug. When I think about it that way then the things that didn’t make sense to me yesterday in this much more realistic adaptation make much more sense to me. It even maybe partially explains why Anita initially agrees to help Maria run away with Tony. She has been perhaps now deprived of her “escape.” She doesn’t want Maria to be, also. Maybe that works for you. Maybe it doesn’t. If you decide to see it again, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Also, on a somewhat more comical note, I’m watching 90 Day Fiancé right now. Talk about people looking for “escape.” "
I am almost certain to see it again in a theater, so I suspect I will have different reactions the second time. Tony’s desire to escape with Maria always was always easier to fathom, and Kushner’s script does an excellent job expanding on his motivations. (It’s arguably his biggest upgrade, because some of his other improvements were easy decisions.) Maria has the tougher acting task because she is an innocent without the same scars. In both films, she gets over Bernardo’s death very quickly. Given the greater attempts at realism in this one, I thought there would be more done there. It’s left to the most impressive song in the new film - “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love” - to do that. I thought Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose rose to the moment. I had never heard the full songs, and the entire thing made me think of Stephen Sondheim, who wrote a fair number of songs with overlapping lyrics in his own musicals. I still wasn’t sure if it was enough to satisfy me, but that’s not an issue unique to this adaptation.
I may change my mind about “Somewhere.” I doubt I will change my thoughts on the conclusion. It wasn’t a disaster, just a disappointment.
One thing I neglected to mention: The direction and cinematography are just gorgeous. The puddle, the rumble location, the physical destruction everywhere, the decision to have Chino and Tony arrive at the same time, the entire “America” sequence, the two shots of Tony and Riff locking eyes.
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