Rita Moreno

  • West Side Story (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Disney Streaming, March 2022) Frankly, I wasn’t asking for a West Side Story remake. I sometimes daydream about laws that would prohibit Academy Award Best Picture winners from ever being remade. But if Steven Spielberg really wants to do a full-fledged musical… the least we can do is check it out. Much to my surprise, I was quite taken by the results. The original West Side Story is one of my favourite 1960s musicals (a decade that was very uneven for the subgenre) and I’m not delusional when I propose that this remake is generally better than the original. No, it’s not as impactful a statement about minority life in America than it was back in 1961. No, it won’t become the reference. But when it comes to the direction and execution, this remake gives the original a hard run for its money. My acid test, the one sequence I was waiting for, was the “America” number—to me, it’s the thematic heart of the film: a music number that presents an argument across gender lines about whether to live or leave America. It’s my favourite sequence of the original, and it’s probably the strongest number of the remake as well, taking to the streets for a colourful choreography, witty staging and breakout star Ariana DeBose at her very best. Now that’s an old-school musical number executed with a contemporary flair. My second-place pick isn’t the bouncy “Gee, Officer Krupke” number (daringly set in an enclosed space), but the dynamic execution of “The Dance at the Gym” even if not much happens during that number. Third place goes to “Cool,” making good use of special effects for a dance number that doubles as a battle between two characters. I like that I get to talk about a modern musical in terms of numbers, because that harkens back to the kind of discussion we can still have about Classic Hollywood musicals. It’s easy to note that West Side Story keeps its modern moviemaking techniques under reins in a successful attempt to re-create a film that looks and feels like a 1960s film. There are a few strong hints of the future intruding on its 1950s story (most notably looking forward to the Lincoln Centre development, and a non-binary character), but the film makes a good-faith attempt to limit what it does to what would have been possible at the time. It works. I’m not all that taken by blandy-bland Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in the lead roles, but their Romeo-and-Juliet shtick is not meant to be flashy. I’m far happier with DeBose (playing a challenging character) and Rita Moreno in a meaty supporting role. There are really interesting comparisons to be made between this West Side Story and the somewhat similar In the Heights, as the latter doesn’t hold back on delivering a thoroughly modern film with contemporary music and flashy special effects (re: “When the Sun Goes Down”). I may prefer In the Heights, but this West Side Story does build upon the original, and that about the best thing one can say about any remake.

  • The King and I (1956)

    The King and I (1956)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2018) So, so very boring. I should be sorry for saying so, but there it is: Despite liking all three lead actors a lot (Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, and especially Rita Moreno) and liking musicals a lot, and not being completely unreceptive to mid-fifties filmmaking, I found The King and I very long, very dull and unable to go beyond its familiarity. It doesn’t help that the film’s outlook on colonialism is, well, from the mid-fifties (if not earlier, given the film’s lineage to a Broadway production, then to a book, then to real-life experience). I’ll point out that my not liking a musical is not a surprise when the musicals are based on a Broadway/Hammerstein source—I find Broadway adaptations not as interesting as musical developed directly for the screen, and Hammerstein to be humorless. Otherwise, as The King and I demonstrates, it usually ends up being an unimaginative restaging of a theatrical production with very little in terms of purely cinematographic art. It doesn’t help that the source material is almost entirely devoid of anything looking like humour or playfulness.   On the other hand, many of the individual components of the film are just fine. The scenery and costumes are terrific. Brynner is fantastic in the royal role, while Kerr and Moreno are also very good in their roles. And yet, I just couldn’t get or remain in the film, occasionally perking up at some of the better numbers but otherwise thinking “I’ve seen this already with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-fat”. 

  • West Side Story (1961)

    West Side Story (1961)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, June 2018) I thought I knew West Side Story before watching it: A Romeo-and-Juliet adaptation taking place in the Latino communities of Manhattan, what more could it be? But as it turns out, the film is almost irresistibly engaging, with enough musical numbers to showcase the skills of the filmmakers and the cast. I put one the movie while doing other things, thinking that I wouldn’t want to watch it closely … and ended up sitting down to watch big chunks of the film. While Nathalie Wood gets top billing, Rita Moreno steals the show with “America”, a number that crystallizes the film’s respectable intention to tackle the immigrant experience in a relatively upbeat fashion. The diversity of numbers means that there’s something for everyone—you can have your “Maria” if you want, I’ll take “America” and “Gee, Officer Krupke” on repeat. The romanced portrait of early-sixties urban life is fascinating, and Robert Wise’s direction is often amazing in the way it choreographs the dancing and singing with cinematic qualities. But what fascinates me more about the film, and what provides its substance beyond its musical qualities, is its admirable willingness to engage with issues of immigration, integration and acceptance. There’s gang violence set to music as an engaging counterpoint, and the film feels intensely alive as it mixes violence with music and dance. While it may seem quaint today, it has aged far better than other more restrained movies of the time. The downer ending comes with the literary inspiration, but the best moments of West Side Story are exhilarating.