West Side Story

Rating

Director

Steven Spielberg

Screenplay

Tony Kushner (Play: Arthur Laurents)

Length

2h 36m

Starring

Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Brian d’Arcy James, Corey Stoll, Mike Faist

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Original Preview

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Review

On the Broadway stage, a revival is meant to explore an older show and look at it through a more modern lens. In cinema, such efforts are often met with derision or otherwise pale in comparison to their originals. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story brings the story of two rival gangs on the streets of New York as they fight for dominance in what feels like a more significant fit in our modern political landscape than it was when it was originally brought to the screen in 1961.

Based on the William Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet, the show pits the Sharks, a group of Puerto Rican immigrants, against the Jets, a white gang who oppose the Spanish-speaking transplants for invading their space. Ansel Elgort plays Tony, former leader of the Jets, who went to prison for almost killing a Egyptian immigrant in a rumble a year earlier. Rachel Zegler is the sister of Shark Bernardo (David Alvarez) who resents the Jets for their privilege. Throw in Ariana DeBose as Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita, Mike Faist as the Jets’ new leader Riff, and Rita Moreno as Tony’s benefactor, and you have a tremendous cast of young (and old) talents that pull the audience into their narrative.

That narrative, written by Tony Kushner, understands its place in a modern day milieu. While the film is set in the New York City of the past, the parallels between entitled white youths and their vitriol spewed at their fellow Americans and the American citizens who are perceived as threats because of where they come from reach out loud and clear. This is why some films can be remade without tarnishing the original.

Spielberg has never directed a full blown musical before, but you wouldn’t know it from his framing and attentive pacing. While there are some questionable choices at times, his conviction is so palpable that the viewer can take those moments in stride. It’s both a tribute to and a resurrection of the old style Hollywood musical with its dancing splendor, which is well adapted to the idea that the moves should feel organic within the framework of the storyline rather than as a departure from the normalcy of every day life. There are moments when that inauthenticity comes through, but suspending one’s belief for a musical of any kind demands accepting those moments.

Elgort has a firm singing voice, but he once again proves that he has an all-too-limited range as an actor. The remainder of the cast, both in terms of performance and in terms of singing capabilities, make his efforts feel like they come from a whole other movie. DeBose is a tour de force in the role that won her co-star Moreno an Oscar fifty years ago. She tackles the role with passion while Moreno gives it her empathetic all, pulling some of the most earned tears in the film. Faist and Alvarez also bring their A games while Zegler does well, but like Natalie Wood in the original, never finds a way to stand out against a significantly better supporting cast.

West Side Story isn’t likely to convince non-musical fans to give the genre a try, but it may placate or enhearten those who fear re-adaptations are a slippery slope and that, when done correctly, can more than make a case for their existence.

Oscar Prospects

Guarantees: Picture, Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose), Production Design, Costume Design, Sound
Probables: Directing, Actress (Rachel Zegler), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
Potentials: Supporting Actor (David Alvarez, Mike Faist), Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno), Cinematography

Review Written

February 1, 2022