West Side Story (1961)

USA
directed by: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
written by: Ernest Lehman + Jerome Robbins (play), William Shakespeare (play)
starring:  Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris
comment: 22nd November, 2017

Looking at myself in the mirror today, it's clear that I managed to overcome the pure undiluted hatered I had towards "classical" musicals (although from all those made before the year 2000 I still truly like only Jesus Christ Superstar). I'm not sure if that's a character development worth a pat on the back, but given that thanks to that I managed to quite enjoy an unbiased repeat viewing of West Side Story, maybe it is.

One of the undeniable positives of the film is the creative use of dancing as a means of communication and demonstration of characters backgrounds (and not just as a pretty, meaningless ornament - see my recent angry review of vanity in La La Land). Here, music and dance help the hooligans to engage non-verbally and with a clear message and universal understandability. And isn't that all we really want from films? It is for me.

I am also extremely satisfied by the dominant colour palette (purple, crimson, orange and turquoise forever), because often with films that are widely regarded as visually beautiful I get the feeling that their colours either turn my stomach inside out or are just simply tacky and illogical (such as the trendy desaturised blue grays - see for example Wan's horror flicks - or tawdry primer blues, reds, greens and yellows of Avatar and other mainstream "exotics" - that's one palette abomination that never stops to haunt me). West Side Story also helped me to discover the painter Robert Vickery and his work full of light and shadow, so a big thank you is due here.

The one thing I could ironically imagine this film without is the whole main Romeo and Juliet allusion, or should I say the two main lovers and their antics together. Their chemistry is weak and unconvincing, their characters are not particularly distinctive or interesting, their songs are the most boring parts of the film for me, and their love is not even the main point of the film in my eyes. I was at my happiest when it was a lively drama about all immigrants being equal in America, except when some are more equal than others.