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Movie Review: West Side Story

Mike Tyrkus

Although the thought of remaking a revered classic such as West Side Story (1961) may seem like the sort of career suicide that almost befell Gus Van Sant after he remade Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1998, Steven Spielberg’s epic interpretation of the beloved musical is destined to be enshrined as a classic in its own right, anchored by a plethora of fine performances and artisans performing at the top of their individual games.

The film follows the familiar tale of a young man named Tony (Ansel Elgort) who happens across Maria (Rachel Zegler) at a school dance in late-1950s New York. Much to the chagrin of their contemporaries – the Jets and the Sharks – the unlikely couple falls completely and madly in love sparking an even more intense confrontation between the two gangs.

Director Spielberg utilizes Janusz Kaminski’s camera almost as a dancer itself in some scenes, darting the shot up and down and left and right in a kinetic frenzy that keeps time with the performers and the timeless music of Leonard Bernstein. The production design provided by Adam Stockhausen expresses the desperation that pervades the city as it is torn down and rebuilt, as well as the hope that springs from Tony and Maria’s story.

Scriptwriter Tony Kushner – who previously worked with Spielberg on Lincoln (2012) and Munich (2005) – manages to imbue a modern universality into the already fantastic story that seems to update it for contemporary audiences without actually doing so within the machinations of the piece itself. That is, the motif is as relevant today as it was when it was first released in 1961.

Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort in “West Side Story.”

As Tony, Elgort does a fine job expressing his newfound love for Zegler’s Maria as well as his eventual anguish over thinking he has lost her. Zegler is similarly wonderful in the role initially made famous by Natalie Wood. But, the star of the show is really the incredible show-stopping work of Ariana DeBose as Anita who carries away every scene she is in with zest and vigor. Then, just to provide more of a good thing, Spielberg also provides Moreno’s Valentina a moment to shine and try her best to steal the show.

The history of cinema is littered with attempts by artisans attempting to better work that has come before them. While most of these endeavors have ended in abject failure, Spielberg has, with his interpretation of West Side Story, managed to create an indelible, new version of a timeless classic that is not only true to the source material but is also a singular work of art within his own milieu.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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