When it comes to adapting anything for the big screen, there’s always a push and pull. How much of the story do you change, what elements resonate with you, how do you bring the story into whatever era you are making it in. Sometimes the movie will soar, with nary a quibble, other times the movie will falter. The latter is how I feel about West Side Story, the new adaptation of the smash musical and 10 time Oscar winning film by Steven Spielberg.
It is wild to think that he’d never have a chance at making a musical and it’s no surprise that he’d choose this one. After all the story of star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria in New York City set to the tunes of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim leaves quite an impression. Set during the 60s as the city was clearing out room to build Lincoln Center, the movie chronicles how the Jets, the “last of the can’t make it Caucasians”, and the Sharks, Puerto Rican immigrants, struggle for dominance of this piece of land. Adding to the combustible mix are the aforementioned Tony and Maria, and rumbles occur.
It is interesting to look at this story in a vacuum and then compare it to the various source materials it is in conversation with. It’s no secret that I am no fan of Romeo and Juliet but I unabashedly love West Side Story, precisely because I feel the musical elements really amp up the extraness and melodrama of the story, allowing for a greater sense of disbelief. However, in their attempt to ground the musical and add new wrinkles, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner actually work against the story. Expanding the narrative, adding in additional backstory, and trying to ground the movie didn’t quite gel for me.
Chief among them is Rita Moreno’s character. It was a very inspired bit of casting to make her the owner of Doc’s and the movie gives her one of its most powerful songs. The moment just did not land with me like I knew they wanted it to. It was nice to have her in the movie, but for much of her character I felt like was a response to the previous film. She explicitly calls the Jets rapists for what they do to Anita, which is definitely a direct call to the criticism and dialogue about that scene in the original. The movie also has the Jet’s girls in the scene in an attempt to show women trying to protect women, but is just rang as emotionally manipulative.
Furthermore, that famous scene in Doc’s did lead me to wonder why this very famous Puerto Rican actress playing a Puerto Rican character is saddled with dealing with the Jets for nearly the entire duration of the movie (Puerto Rican’s can’t go to Doc’s?). In fact, most of the narrative (by nature of the source material) is the Jets driving the story. They get the development, the most songs, and the MVP of the movie is a Jet (more on him later). If we’re giving all of this time to flesh everything out, why does the story still feel so imbalanced.
I think that was my chief problem with the film, is that while this movie was smart for making choices, it can’t quite get the blend right. When approaching the 3rd version of this, Kushner chose to add more flavor to the story. Why not have Tony and Maria actually go on a date? What kind of life did these kids really lead? Can Anita be even more fun? The answers to those questions are all very valid, but West Side Story is already a long musical and these additional explorations just add weight to the picture.
Case and point, Maria and Tony. Ansel Elgort is a way better singer than I thought he would be, but his version of Tony is saddle with a backstory of not only going to jail for a year but for nearly killing someone. Do you need to add an additional red flag to a character to make him more interesting or to foreshadow that he’s going to kill Bernardo?
Maria, played convincingly and sung with gusto by Rachel Zegler, is given much more in the way of screen time and chutzpah than in previous incarnations. It’s nice to have her feel a little more present in the story and you can see why Tony would be alluring to her. Maria is so incredibly smart and determined and yet they have given her love interest red flag after red flag…and that’s before he kills her brother. The side effect of this is that she come off far more foolish than she should. Because of this I was less invested in their relationship than I already was inclined to be. This story is mean to be about kids in love whose delusions about it end tragically but this version of the story can’t seem to realize that brevity can be a the source of wit and instead feels like we need more.
For all the many struggles this movie has, there’s a couple of things the movie gets absolutely right. Mike Faist is unimpeachable as Riff, the leader of the Jets. From his singing to his acting, Faist turns in one of the finest performances of the year. He’s absolutely magnetic any time he’s on screen, being able to channel the outward gruffness and put upon bravado that he needs to sell that character. This is the first version of West Side Story where Riff has made a true impact, and that’s a credit to Faist and Kushner.
Additionally, the song staging and sequencing was pretty stellar. The 1961 version brilliantly figured out how to use Gee, Officer Krupke and Cool and this movie follows in those wise footsteps, leading to the movie’s finest number and most interesting use of dance (Cool). Cool in particular gets new life and dramatic meaning outside of its usual confines. The movie could have used a bit more of this style of imagination in its plotting and dramatic scenes.