West Side Story (2021) Movie Review
If you’re watching West Side Story (2021) to see some Latinidad being represented on the big screen, then chances are you’ll leave the theater feeling disappointed.
Steven Spielberg’s reimagined version of the 1961 musical feels unnecessary. Though he tries his best, Spielberg doesn’t add anything useful to the narrative and even when the movie gets close to making a solid point (about colorism in the Latin community), he abandons the thought before we get any substance.
It’s not all bad, don’t let me take anything away from most of the cast of this film.
Watching West Side Story (2021) is worth it because you get to witness Ariana DeBose (Anita) leave her heart in every scene. We should have known she was meant for greatness the moment she went viral for playing the bullet in Hamilton on Disney+. She is the embodiment of Latin joy; her dancing radiates euphoria, her singing feels sincere and her acting pulls you into every single scene that she is in. I left the theater in awe of what she gave us and now I can’t wait to see what she does next.
We will be rioting if no nominations come in for DeBose.
It’s always a wonderful experience to get to witness Rita Moreno (Valentina) on screen and this film is no exception. Rita is the heart of this film, she has given us so much and it was emotional to see her career come full circle.
A few years ago I saw a blurry clip of Mike Faist (Riff) performing “Sincerely Me” in Dear Evan Hansen and I knew the possibilities were endless with him. He plays Riff with just enough heart that you find yourself silently rooting for a different outcome at the end of the film. Rachel Zegler (Maria) is full of wonder, naïveté and excitement. Her portrayal of Maria is sweet and tender, I just wish her counterpart had given her more to work with.
I shouldn’t have to say this but, spoiler alert.
I had forgotten that Bernardo dies. David Alvarez (Bernardo) made me fall in love with Bernardo immediately. I was rooting for him, we were all rooting for him and his death came like a gut punch that took my breath away. David plays Bernardo like our brother, our tio, the family friend that’s always been protective of you and your siblings. When Anita broke down, I felt a tightness in my chest that I still haven’t been able to shake off. Nominations all around.
With that being said, even if this movie had been perfection, it wouldn’t have been able to escape the cloud of negativity that was left behind from the allegations against the main actor.
If the rest of Hollywood has forgotten the allegations made against Ansel Elgort (Tony), let me assure you that I have not. The entire film is tainted by this fact and if reshoots were not possible for whatever reason, then the bare minimum would have been to keep him out of the press tour. Putting all of that aside for a moment, his performance was forgettable. Ansel has the charisma of a snail, the vibrancy of a brown piece of paper and his performance left way too much too be desired. His mediocre talent does not warrant the industry’s short term memory and he does not deserve to escape accountability.
I’ll close with this:
The accents.
We are a community full of unique and diverse individuals. Our languages are beautiful and when English is our second language, our voices are champions. This movie was made BY white people FOR white people and nothing makes that more evident than the accents. If accents were necessary then they should have hired actors that had natural accents because we deserve to see that represented in our media. To add, the film has no subtitles when they’re speaking Spanish and though some of you may see that as a big “Fu** You” to white people, you’re disregarding those in our community that don’t know Spanish.
If I could grab the supporting cast and place them in a different movie, I would do it immediately because the immense talent is definitely there. Now let me go because I have an Oscar campaign to kick off for Ariana DeBose.