e [Music] e e e e e e e e friends if you want to watch super hit movie West Side Story in English then you must like this video if you are visiting our channel for the first time don't forget to subscribe to our Channel friends in today's video the movie we are going to talk about is called Westside Story we will talk about what this movie is and where you can watch it all the interesting facts about this movie in today's video I am going to tell you I also going to give you all the information on which Ott platform or on which satellite channel you will get to watch this movie also we will talk in detail about the technical department music department pre-production filming post production budget box office collection of this film we will also talk about the story of this film and I will also give you a small review of the story of this film apart from this we will discuss about the facts of this film storyline starcast actor's performance in the film and which character has played which role that's why I request you friends to watch this video till the end so let's start the video West Side Story is a 2021 American Musical romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner the second featur length adaptation of the 1957 stage musical which was itself inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet it stars anel Elgort and Rachel zegler the latter making her film debut with Ariana deos David Alvarez Mike Feist and Rita Moreno in supporting roles Moreno who starred in The 1961 film adaptation also served as an executive producer alongside Kushner the film features music composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Steven sonheim the film entered development in 2014 at 20th Century Fox Kushner began writing the screenplay in 2017 in January 2018 Spielberg was hired and casting began that September Justin pet choreographed The Dance sequences principal photography occurred in New York and New Jersey filming began in July 2019 and ran for 2 months Westside Story had its World premiere at jazz at link L Center's Rose Theater in New York City on November 29th 2021 3 days after sondheim's death the film was later theatrically distributed by 20th century studios in the United States on December 10th after being delayed a year due to the co9 pandemic the film received critical Acclaim with praise for the performances of the cast Spielberg's Direction the musical numbers the visual style and the cinematography with some critics deeming it superior to the 19 61 film it was named one of the top 10 films of 2021 by the national board of review and the American Film Institute among its multiple Awards and nominations it received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards including best picture with deo's winning best supporting actress however the film was a box office bomb grossing only $76 million against a $100 million production budget and an estimated $300 million break even Target movie plot in 1957 the Jets a gang of white youths brawl with the sharks a gang of Puerto Rican youths for control of San Juan Hill on Manhattan's Upper West Side New York City Police Department sergeant krupka and Lieutenant shrank disband their latest scuffle with shrank deriding their conflict as pointless since the neighborhood will soon be demolished to make way for linkoln Center the gangs are too proud to care and Jet leader riff proposes a rumble between the two gangs he approaches his friend Tony who is on parole for help Tony declines wishing to reform with the help of Valentina the Puerto Rican owner of Doc's General Store meanwhile Maria shark leader bernardo's sister is betrothed to his friend Chino but yearns for an independent future at a neighborhood dance at the community center that night Tony and Maria meet and fall in love infuriating Bernardo however Bernardo accepts rift's terms to participate in the osed Rumble provided that Tony attends as well Tony later confesses his love to Maria on her fire escape and they vow to reconvene the next day Bernardo and his girlfriend Anita argue about life in New York compared to Puerto Rico with Anita's belief in the American dream contrasting with bernardo's rude pessimism police interrogate the Jets who deny any knowledge about the rumble during their date at the cloysters Tony reveals to Maria that his year-long imprisonment for nearly beating a rival gang member to death had scared him into reforming Maria makes Tony promise to stop the rumble and they make promises to one another as if marrying before God later Tony tries to convince Riff to call off the rumble by stealing his newly bought gun but the Jets steal it back with riff reasserting that the rumble will happen as scheduled shrank orders krupka and other police officers to stop the rumble from occurring but they are unsuccessful arriving at the rumble Tony speaks to riff who is so confident Tony has joined them he relinquishes the gun Tony then explains his feelings for Maria to Bernardo but Bernardo uses his boxing skills to injure Tony as Tony refuses to fight Bernardo then goes after riff so Tony fights punching Bernardo on the ground but stopping before knocking him unconscious unwilling to let Tony walk away Bernardo goes after him and produces a knife after a brief duel Bernardo fatally stabs rib before Tony fatally stabs Bernardo The Gangs flee when the police arrive and Chino walks away last with rift's gun Maria gushes about her love for Tony to her co-workers in the late night cleaning crew at the gimbal's department store once their shift is over she spots Chino who reveals that Tony killed Bernardo she cannot believe it until Tony comes to her room later and admits it she is furious with him but begs him not to him turn himself into the police as it would mean losing as well they plan to run away together Valentina laments bernardo's and rift's deaths while reflecting on her interracial relationship with her deceased white husband document after identifying bernardo's body at the morg Anita returns home and sees Maria and Tony together as he leaves the apartment Anita argues with Maria but eventually accepts that she and Tony are in love at the boxing gym Chico plans to kill Tony with a gun but the Sharks tell him you kill a Gringo they kill you shrank interrogates Maria at her apartment about Tony's whereabouts Maria sends Anita to ask Valentina about the safety of a cousin as a way of passing on a warning for Tony in front of shrank however at docks Anita encounters the Jets who insult and attempt to gang rape her even as their girls protest until Valentina arrives and intervenes traumatized Anita calls Valentina a traitor for housing the Jets then claims that Chino killed Maria and vows to return to Puerto Rico Valentina condemns the Jets who shamefully disperse before relaying a need's message to Tony who runs into the streets begging for Chino to kill him anybody's tries to get him off the street but fails as Maria arrives to Tony's relief Chino emerges and fatally shoots him after Tony dies in her arms a devastated Maria takes the gun and aims it at the gathered Jets and sharks berating them for the senseless deaths their conflict caused before tearfully dropping the gun as the police AR to arrest Chino The Gangs finally end the feud by coming together to carry Tony's corpse into ducks with Maria following close behind anel Elgort as Tony Rachel zegler as Maria Ariana debose as Anita David Alvarez as Bernardo Mike Feist as riff Rita Moreno as Valentina Brian Darcy James as sergeant krupka Corey stole as Lieutenant shrank Josh Andre Rivera as Chino me anybody's Anna Isabel as Rosalia Andrea Burns as FAA Jamila Velasquez as mesh Yasmin aers as louvia Jamie Harris as Rory Curtis cook as Abe Paloma garc as grael Kyle Kaufman as ice Shan Harrison Jones as action Patrick Higgins as John B John Ben Cook as mouthpiece Kyle Allen as Balan miles Erick as snowboy Talia Rider as Tessa Maddie zegler as Velma Annalie searo as provie development in March 2014 Steven Spielberg first seriously expressed interest in directing an adaptation of Westside story prompting 20th Century Fox to acquire the rights to the project Tony Kushner who previously worked with Spielberg on Munich 2005 and Lincoln 2012 revealed in a July 2017 interview that he was writing the screenplay for the film stating he would be leaving the musical numbers intact and that the story would be closer to the original stage musical than to the 1961 film in a 2020 interview Spielberg told Vanity Fair Westside Story was actually the first piece of popular music our family ever allowed into the home fell completely in love with it as a kid Spielberg would ultimately dedicate the film to his father Arnold who died during production at age 103 divisions between unlike minded people is as old as time itself and the divisions between the Sharks and the Jets in 1957 which inspired the musical were profound but not as divided as we find ourselves today it turned out in the middle of the development of the script things widened which I think in a sense sadly made the story of those racial divides not just territorial divides more relevant to today's audience than perhaps it even was in 1957 inch pre-production in January 2018 Spielberg was figuring out his next two directorial vehicles sources said that he was eyeing a fifth Indiana Jones film and then would either precede or follow quickly with another film it was reported that one might be his dream project a new version of Westside Story this was followed a few days later with an open casting call issued for the characters Maria Tony Anita and Bernardo additional open casting calls were hosted in New York City in April and in Orlando Florida in May in July the fifth Indiana Jones film was pushed back allowing Spielberg to begin pre-production on Westside Story Justin pek was hired to choreograph the film in September with ano Elgort cast in the film as Tony in November Isa Gonzalez emerged as a a contender for the role of Anita Rita Moreno who played Anita in the 1961 film plays Valentina and also serves as an executive producer for the film in January 2019 newcomer Rachel zegler was picked from over 30,000 applicants to play Maria with Ariana deos David Alvarez and Josh Andre Rivera also cast as Anita Bernardo and Chino respectively Isabella mered also auditioned for Maria in March Cory sto and Brian Darcy James joined the cast a month later the rest of the Ensemble comprising the Jets and sharks factions was announced Mike Feist was personally invited to audition by Spielberg who approached him after seeing him in dear Evan Hansen on Broadway in 2016 he originally auditioned for Tony before being cast as riff instead filming filming took place in Harlem and other Manhattan locations and in Flatlands Brooklyn in New New York City in July 2019 there were 10 days of shooting in Patterson New Jersey where an outdoor set was built in August filming also took place in Newark and other parts of Essex County New Jersey it wrapped on September 27th for a total of 79 days of shooting all of the sets were constructed at a warehouse at Steiner Studios as one of the film's executive producers Moreno was on set for a large portion of production often Consulting with peek on choreography Moreno described shooting the scene where Valentina saves Anita as particularly difficult due to her own well-documented experiences with sexual assault in Hollywood as well as The Surreal challenge of saving a character she played six decades prior the scene was rehearsed with an intimacy coordinator to ensure de's safety during the scene Moreno who recalled crying hysterically and being unable to stop when she shot the same scene for the 1961 film was surprised urised that such a position existed upon being told about it in a joint interview with her and deos she also had the honor to do Clapper board for the film's famous puddle shot of Tony stepping into a large puddle of water and making it become a pool of Rippling light while singing Maria that shot was the last to be filmed on the final day of principal photography as it was a last minute suggestion made by cinematographer yanish Kaminsky to Spielberg following completion of the balcony scene the beginning of the dance at the gym sequence involved three different shots stitched together to make it look like one continuous shot Kaminsky described that it starts as steady cam bringing the actors down the hallway then as soon as the doors open up it transitions into a cable cam shot that goes up into the air and over to the other side of the gym he went on to mention that its execution was also laid upon the film's lighting team we had our lights rigged on the dimmer so when the camera was turning around some sections of the scene would Di dim out another section would dim up with the lights you set the lights so it's in One Direction then when you turn around you have to either cut or relight or do lights in the dimming board so you can fade the lights in or fade the lights out so you can maintain the romance and beauty of the shot Andy Aaron who served as sound effects recordist added that the dance footsteps during the sequence were recorded live on set allowing those tracks to be used in the final sound mix without the music intruding in conclusion Kaminsky added that the shot gives a very clear indication to the audience what this particular scene will be about it's about two teams competing against each other in terms of which team has the better dancers better performers more charming and more enticing this moment from the film went viral on social media and filmmaker guod Del Toro described it as extremely hard to execute Rachel zegler also noted the shot's significance describing it as very Spielberg esque Spielberg and sonheim initially wanted to cut I feel pretty from the film its presence in the original musical right after the rumble was largely done against the wishes of sonheim he and Bernstein had been instructed by The Producers to add an upbeat song after intermission to start act two and so the song was written in protest sonheim would later remark that he was embarrassed by its lyrical content to the point that he allowed it to be cut from the 2020 Broadway Revival directed by Evo vanov Spielberg likewise questioned whether the upbeat song would still work without an intermission between it and the rumble it was ultimately due to the intervention of Tony Kushner that the song remained as Spielberg later explained Tony Kushner explained to me and then I explained to Steven that this is the first time in our story that the entire audience is ahead of Maria's story and the audience will feel very protective of her because we know she's about to find out Westside Story movie review I remember at some point someone telling me or perhaps I read it sometime that the problem with Hollywood remaking films is that they always remake the good ones I can see their point whoever they were If You remake a bad film there is so much scope to improve things better casting better script Superior production values take a silent film and render it with sound or a black and white film and give it some color making a good film means competing with something everybody already loves is your script really going to be better your actors more talented the viewing experience more rewarding Steven Spielberg has directed a new adaptation of the popular musical Westside Story and has clearly created a piece that responds to and is informed by Robert wise's earlier 1961 adaptation wises film is honestly an absolute classic a superlative achievement from a director whose career boasted several such Classics Spielberg's version is better more than that that it is the most satisfying and beautifully composed feature film I have seen in 2021 it is the director's best feature in more than 20 years it is and please trust me on this the sort of movie that reminds you why you watch movies so much hyperbole I know you may also know I am an Ardent fan of Spielberg's work here's the thing though since the late 1990s Spielberg's work has shifted on a visual level there's been a growing Reliance on CGI and an increasingly milky look to his film's courtesy of regular cinematographer yanush Kaminsky the narratives of his films felt flabbier than they used to be which I find is not uncommon among directors as they get older Spielberg is 74 all up his films in recent years felt like the work of a man in love with the process of making Cinema but not so much the results this reached its nadier with his last feature Ready Player One 2018 a movie that certainly seemed like it would have been an absolute playground to put together but which was positively rage inducing through which to sit Westside Story is clearly a very personal work for Spielberg in interviews he has spoken of its significance in his childhood the film is dedicated to his father Perhaps it is this personal importance or perhaps it is the pressure of Daring to remake a classic it is in all likelihood both whatever the motivation the result is an honest to God master Masterpiece on the first viewing it is clear that I for one will be watching this film many more times in the years to come it all feels like a sharp breeze taking away all the dust and detritus of Cinema in the 2020s the photography is crisp and detailed as if the film was shot back in 1961 in tandem with the original there is a uncomplicated Beauty to the compositions and the camera movement Leonard Bernstein's famous music has been masterfully arranged by David Newman and award winning writer Tony Kushner has adapted and updated the script there have been changes to plot and character and they are without exception smart changes it feels like Classic Hollywood and it feels contemporary when Martin scorsi got misunderstood and unfairly maligned last year for attempting to distinguish between Marvel movies and honest to God proper films this is what he was talking about Marvel Studios have engineered an enviable conveyor line of wonderfully bright and entertaining screen experiences but they're disposable and they're easily enjoyed at home Westside Story needs to be seen on a big screen and Via immersive sound and most importantly with an actual audience it isn't digitally confected it feels real and it feels enormous it begs for a community to share the experience in a theater one palpable difference between the Spielberg and wise versions is that this new film Embraces the cultural diversity casting a wide variety of Latino / Latina talent in the numerous Puerto Rican roles it delivers whole sections of dialogue in Spanish and it does so without subtitles because that would mean subsuming the cultural effect a change in gender for a supporting character even allows Spielberg to incorporate original Westside Story Alam Rita Moreno in a powerful and deeply effective role these changes lift the material Far and Away Beyond wise's older less diverse film the central cast is exceptional on both sides as Maria Rachel zegler represents the most obvious arrival of a major female talent in American Film since Jenifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone 2010 co-lead anel Elgort perhaps the weakest link in a profoundly good cast remains enormously watchable with an odd Harrison fores quality as the fiery Bernardo David Alvarez Sparks with a brooding intensity it reminded me immediately of a much younger Russell crow in Romper Stomper 1992 there is an identical sense of here of someone genuinely dangerous and menacing Mike Feist is an idiosyncratic yet vital choice for gang leader riff there is always a most valuable player in any film work and for my money here it is Ariana deos as Anita the part originally played by Moreno her presence is commanding her range is impressive when she performs America it brings the house down when she smiles it it fills the theater when she cries it is heartbreaking it takes a lot to outshine such a wonderful cast but there she is for my money the best female performance I've seen in 2021 honestly the rest simply feels like adding punctuation the songs are great the film is peppered with well-chosen moments of humor the choreography is truly superb this is Spielberg's first musical I always assumed he would be brilliant at it because he remained so brilliantly talented at action watch his greatest big budget spectacles Raiders of the Lost Arc Jurassic Park at all and you can see his masterful control of screen geography where are the players where is the camera what is the landscape all he ever needed to do was add a melody in many ways this is the most difficult of films to appropriately praise because while it updates and transforms it does not truly innovate the techniques and the talent brought to bear on Westside story are nothing new instead they are tried and tested possibly unfashionable but undeniably better than pretty much anything else being generated on a Hollywood budget these days this is Cinema as the nostalgists and the rose tinted will enus about only you get to see it in the theater now and you get to see it for real Steven Spielberg's Westside Story 2.0 is an ecstatic Act of ancestor worship a vividly dreamed cunningly modified and Visually staggering Rev Ral no one but Spielberg could have brought it off creating a movie in which Leonard Bernstein score and Steven sondheim's lyrics Blaze out with Fierce new Clarity Spielberg retains Maria's narcissistic I feel pretty transplanted from the bridal Workshop to a fancy department store where she's working as a cleaner this was the number whose coward Ian skittishness sonheim himself had seconded thoughts about but its confection is entirely palatable Spielberg has worked with screen writer Tony Kushner to change the original book by Arthur Lawrence tilting the emphases and giving new stretches of unsubtitled Spanish dialogue and keeping much of the visual idiom of Jerome robins's stylized choreography this new Westside Story isn't updated historically yet neither is it a shot for shot remake but daringly and maybe almost defiantly it reproduces the original period Ambience with stunning digital Fabrications of late 50s New York whose authentic detail coexists with an unashamed theatricality on the big screen the effect is hyperreal as if you have somehow hallucinated your way back 70 years on to both the musical stage for the Broadway opening night and also the city streets outside I couldn't watch without gasping those opening prologue sequences in which the camera drifts over the slum clearance wreckage of Manhattan's post-war Upper West Side as if in a SFI mystery with strangely familiar musical phrases echoing up from below ground other information information about this film Boxing Day in Australia was when the remake of the musical Westside Story came out to rave reviews but a box office that was somehow a surprising disappointment to people who decided to release the remake of a classic musical a week after one of the most anticipated films of 2021 that it be Spider-Man no way home for those playing the home game to the shock of no one who has even a half functioning brain this was inevitable while musicals have been getting a lot more critical praise lately in the Heights kind of showed that they aren't exactly box office smashes a combination of musical remake of beloved classic and releasing against Marvel was an inevitable death nail for the film though none of that is why I avoided Westside Story no I avoided it because I have a serious problem with the lead actor June 19th 2020 was when the first allegation of sexual assault against anel elor came out an allegation that was certainly credible in enough for me to be concerned about it even coming with a photo of the accuser and anel together this was followed by a series of women coming forward to accuse him of coming on to them when they were underage and he was 20 now obviously these are allegations and here's a good write up of all of them and anel has denied them but when this kind of thing happens it's up to people to decide how they want to react and I chose to not give my money to Westside Story if you did that's what works for you but it's not what works for me and and I just decided I wasn't going to see this and then it got about half a dozen Oscar nominations and I kind of need to talk about it now since I have that Oscar list to deal with fortunately it's on Disney plus so it's not like I'm increasing box office or anything so yeah weird lines to draw but it's my lines anyway on to the review now to be fair I'm going to judge Westside Story without taking into account this baggage as best I can but note that the baggage is there and I'm only human Westside Story is an adaptation of the 1957 stage musical of the same name which also was previously adapted in 1961 the story is one we all know well because it's basically Romeo and Juliet but in New York with extra racism thrown in the Jets a white gang led by riff Mike Feist are in a constant war with the sharks a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernando David Alvarez the Jets former leader Tony anel Elgort has just gotten out of prison and is trying to avoid trouble but also wants to hang out with his friends from his old gang who drag him along to a dance their Tony meets a girl named Maria Rachel zegler and the two of them immediately fall in love despite the fact that Maria is Bernando brother which means there is a bit of a problem with the sister of a shark dating someone associated with the Jets Tony and Maria don't seem to care though their love is strong and could overcome anything you know unless the war between the Jets and the Sharks gets so intense that it destroys several lines Liv maybe Anita Ariana deos can talk some sense into Maria before things go the exact way they have to go because this is Romeo and Juliet that story doesn't come with a happy ending attached to say that Steven Spielberg knows how to direct a beautiful looking film that flows effortlessly and is firing on all cylinders is such an obvious statement that it almost doesn't need to be said but Westside Story is a film which shows that somehow after over 55 films Steven Spielberg hasn't lost a single beat for his debut musical film Steven decided to tackle one of the most beloved pieces of musical theater that has already had an adaptation that's considered one of the best films of all time and Justified the attempt brilliantly shocker I know one of the greatest film directors of all time is good enough to pull this off but he does it so well that the elements he pulls together to make this film work are just stunning the visuals of Westside Story are absolutely top-notch from the way the camera moves to the perfect framing of every shot to the ability to effortlessly go between bright glossy musical numbers to dark intense dramatic shots that elevate the material you can tell that so much effort went into making sure Westside Story was able to look its best with modern technology but still feels like it could take place anytime the framing in particular is just expert knowing when to get the good closeup on a performer's face to let them work their magic or to pull back so we can see every single dance step the visuals are are almost scientifically chosen to enhance the story as much as possible and it works of course one can't really praise Westside Story without talking about its performers and most of the performances here are Sublime Rachel zegler is an absolute Gold Mine of a discovery filling Maria with pure warmth and innocence that makes you fall in love with her at about the same speed Tony does her voice is Angelic and her screen presence is undeniable to the point where it's actually viscerally shocking to realize this is her feature film debut if this is how she introduces herself to the world the world is not ready for what she's going to give us in the coming years then there's the combo of David Alvarez and Mike Feist as Bernardo and riff respectively who basically have to be the anchors for the main conflict and they absolutely nail it riff is sleazy yet weirdly charming and Bernardo is undeniably cool but could also you up at a moment's notice if he needs to most of the time they're playing off each other and God damn it do they light up the screen especially when they dance hell all the sharks and Jets are pretty damn great though special note being drawn to the inclusion of Iris minus as anybody's who in this film is a trans male character being played by a trans non-binary performer it's just a lovely little bit of inclusion that they absolutely use to further the story of bigotry that Westside story revolves around but also just gives a great performer a chance to shine Westside Story as a whole though belongs to Ariana deos as Anita to such an extent that she might win the Oscar for the same role that Rita Moreno won it for when the first film adaptation of Westside Story came out she is impossible to look away from and displays a talent that cannot be denied flowing effortlessly between the comedic dramatic and musical moments of the character Ariana debose makes Dam sure you are going to notice and remember her for this performance because she has put everything into it and deserves every bit of Praise she's been getting and then some seriously her performance of a boy like that alone just put the Oscar on her shelf and then there's anel so putting my problems aside and just judging on the performance alone he's the weakest link here I'm not going to outright say he's bad he's what one might call serviceable if they were feeling generous but the truth is that he's letting everyone else do the heavy lifting his performance is surprisingly wooden borderline expressionless at times and just relying on looks and charm that he is vastly overestimating as for his singing oh how can I put this fairly he's not bad I've just heard better in more recent years specifically when I listened to Glee actor Darren Chris performed these same songs a few years ago it just feels like anel is there for a name brand he didn't offer and not because he was the best person for the role indeed the fact that everyone else is basically carrying him through the film is proof that he's just a liability to Westside Story and that's before we factor in everything else to try and redo Westside Story is one hell of a gamble but it paid off this time Spielberg fills his version of Westside Story with passion and energy correcting some serious issues from previous versions not a spot of blackface to be seen here and introducing the world to several amazing performers who are destined to be huge names if you can get past the huge pile of luggage that comes with the leading man and I understand those who can't it's why this review only got done because of the Oscars then this is a genuine great version of a much-loved play that proves once again that Spielberg can basically do just about anything he wants Steven Spielberg's eloquent and graceful Westside Story opens with a familiar image of the Jets prowling across New York City they toss paint cans to one another gathering in larger numbers as they slink and slide through the streets occasionally their strides break into a dance move a spin or a slide across the pavement always in unison it's almost almost as if they can't help it as if they need to express themselves through movement much of Westside Story is about that need that sense of something under the surface that just has to escape restlessness passion anger displacement the sense that something's coming that so many people feel when they're young immediately one can feel the craftsmanship of this rest aging of the classic Broadway smash the camera doesn't just capture action on a set it Glides with the performers and we Glide along with them the editing avoids the choppy rhythms of so many recent musicals allowing viewers to feel motion and connection we are instantly hooked and will be for the next 2.5 hours fans of the original Stage production and beloved film will argue over the need for a 2021 version of Westside Story although rest aging a classic play is an annual event in major theaters around the world for some reason remakes in film are more often seen as attempts to suppl an original whereas theatergoers are accustomed to the process of new voices interpreting classic texts the new voices here are those of absolute Geniuses including Spielberg writer Tony Kushner angels in America cinematographer yanish Kaminsky choreographer Justin peek and a stunning Ensemble of new voices and talented veterans Kushner and Spielberg have stayed loyal to the play and original film while also making notable changes in a way that makes it fresh and V vibrant and they have staged their production in a way that's often mesmerizing one misguided casting decision holds it back from absolute greatness but there are so many breathtaking perfect sequences in this Westside Story that I suspect it will do what the original did for a lot of people including this critic who was raised on movie musicals make them a fan of the entire genre the opening sequence sets up the Rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks the former group of tough-talking New Yorkers is led by riff Mike Feist giving one of several star making performances in the film who is tired of the sharks taking the city that he thinks belongs to him leading the Puerto Rican sharks is Bernardo David Alvarez a boxer who isn't about to give an inch to anyone and who warns his sister Maria Rachel zegler to never even look at a gringo that doesn't last long Maria Bernardo and his partner Anita Ariana deos go to a dance that night where Maria catches is the eye of Tony anel elwart a former jet who is trying to go straight just released from prison after nearly killing a guy Tony lives in the basement of the store in which he works watched over by a mother figure named Valentina a Transcendent Rita Moreno who won an Oscar for the first film and could do so again of course anyone even Vaguely Familiar with the Shakespeare inspired original knows that this New York Romeo falls hard for his Puerto Rican Juliet and yet Spielberg and Kush find new notes to hit in a musical that many know by heart the changes are not superficial but feel like elements that are being pulled out of the original in a way that 2021 audiences will see differently than those did in 1961 including enriching The Immigrant narrative at the center of this piece characters like Maria Bernardo and Anita have a rich backstory that the original never allowed and Spielberg also allows his historian side to influence the take opening the film with a shot of the the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts under construction a job that historically pushed immigrant communities out of that part of the city so much of Westside Story takes place against a backdrop of crumbling facades or under the shadow of a wrecking ball it's a glorious symbol of not only a time when the city and country were changing but how it reflects the incomplete nature of these young people looking for their lives to be built in terms of performance Westside Story make instant stars of at least three people Mike Feist Ariana debose and Rachel zegler of course theater fans don't need an introduction to deos a Tony nominee who was in the original production of Hamilton as anyone who knows the original can tell you debose gets the showstopper in America and it is one of the Cinematic highlights of the Year Spielberg and Kushner pull the number down from the rooftops sending Anita and her friends through the streets dancing and singing with such passion that you can sense it through the camera Spielberg and Kaminsky staging here is stunning moving so gracefully around the performers in a way that's never distracting but only designed to make sure you don't miss a thing the camera work incorporates a little too much lens flare but it's the framing and fluidity that make it Exemplar Feist and Ziggler also find that well of passion that riff and Maria need on the other hand Elgort rarely feels like he's on the same page these characters need to be almost jittery with the adrenaline of Youth and uncontrollable feeling that leads them to dance to love to fight everyone gets that but Elgort he's a blank slate in the first half brought slightly to Life by the melodrama but never enough to stop the thoughts of what could have been with a performer who better understood Tony's desperation he's caught between friendship and love knowing that giving into either could send him back to jail or Worse Elgort never conveys those Stakes Luckily everything around him does Feist finds a remarkable vulnerability in riff zler makes you believe that love has her feeling pretty Alvarez Nails the overprotective nature of men who go too far debose has arguably the largest range from America to the end of Anita's tragic Arc and then there's Rita Moreno when I realized a moment that she was about to have in terms of one of the original songs from the show I gasped she grounds the Final Act of the film in a way that it really needs there's so much Beauty in this Westside Story it merges things that have truly shaped pop culture from the graceful Precision of Spielberg who has always had a musical director's eye in terms of how he choreographs his scenes to the masterful songwriting of Steven sonheim and Leonard Bernstein to the brilliant writing of Tony Kushner to the Immigrant experience in this country it grabs you from the very beginning and takes you there somehow someday somewhere more detail Steven Spielberg's Westside Story has a Brash Fest Ence you can feel the joy he got out of making it and the kick is infectious directing his first musical Spielberg moves into the big roomy space of a Broadway meets Hollywood classic rearranges the furniture the film screenwriter Tony Kushner has spiced up the dialogue and tossed out the most cringeworthy knickknacks and gives it all a Fresh coat of desaturated bombed out city block gritty as reality paint he makes it his own at the same time Spielberg stays rently true to what Generations have loved about Westside Story the Swoon Factor the yearning beauty of those songs the hypnotic jack knife ballet of 50s delinquents dancing out their aggression on the New York streets there are scenes in Spielberg's version that will melt you scenes that will make your pulse race and scenes where you simply sit back and revel in the big spirited Grandeur of it all the setting is the Upper West Side in 1957 something the film lets us know with a wink that nods to how Spielberg and Kushner are going to Tinker with the material Robert wise's 1961 screen version opened with that God ey panoramic sweep of Manhattan but Spielberg's opens with a panorama of rubble the camera swooping over what looks like a war zone which turns out to be the wrecking ball slum clearance that will make way for the construction of Lincoln Center the turf war between the films white and Puerto Rican teenage gangs the Jets and the Sharks now has a bigger picture backdrop both are being crushed by gentrification which is to say part of their tragic Folly is they never realize they're in the same boat the Jets start off slathering paint on the mural of a Puerto Rican flag as the boys move and groove to their inner Thug singing jet song when you're a jet you're a jet all the way Justin peek's choreography plays off the hypnotic limb thrusting Rhythm of the city athleticism of Jerome Robins original dances and Spielberg working with his Dynamic cinematographer yanish k has the camera moves to match we seem to be gliding through the streets right along with the Jets channeling their Reckless exhilaration and the 50s Punk acting has been liberated so that the snarls and struts aren't trapped in that bubble of old movie corniness The 1961 Westside Story felt dated in 1961 as riff the leader of the Jets Mike Feist has a lean sociopathic squint and David Alvarez plays Bernardo leader of the sharks with a mean Swagger of self-righteousness Bernardo is now a boxer fighting is what gets him high and his problem is that he has never embraced his life in America the racial antagonism he faces each day has singed his soul and Alvarez infuses the character with a dark side of Rockstar bravado of course at the center of Westside Story is something maybe I should say somewhere softer and more tenderly lyrical and Spielberg has done an ace job J of casting his two romantic leads before now I've never been a fan of anel Elgort one's first thought about him maybe that he's Ashton cutcher without irony and that you miss the irony but in Westside Story Elgort with lips like Brando's has a brooding heart and personality that pop and he's a wonderfully expressive kuner Tony updated by Kushner script has now spent a year in prison for nearly punching someone to death and Elgort speaking in underst Street vowels strikes just the right balance of sweetness and danger at the high school dance which Spielberg stages with a hip twirling electricity that Rivals the big school dance number in Greece yes that's a compliment Tony has his first glimpse of Maria Rachel zegler the girl who will burn down what's left of his gang loyalty and she has her first glimpse of him and well it could all spearhead a Revival of love at first sight singing Maria his voice so oring into the upper register Tony is transported and so are we in the Oscar winning 1961 film version adapted from the 1957 Broadway show Maria was mostly a perky saintly Innocent but here she gets a Spitfire upgrade the charismatic newcomer Rachel Ziggler gives her a touch of fierceness and a boldly chiseled stare of longing when Maria and Tony sing tonight the most Transcendent song in Westside Story they're on the fire escape in vintage Romeo and Juliet of the tenement fashion and Spielberg stages their duet with an intimate choreographed flow so that the words seem to spin and dance their love is an oasis of Hope in the concrete jungle and that's an emblem of how Westside Story now lands in the larger movie world as a heady nostalgic crowd-pleaser that offers the rare alternative to both Blockbuster Overkill and Indie angst can the Oscars possibly say no to it that said I've always had a love/ gripe relationship with Westside Story it has what may be the greatest set of songs in any American Musical composed by Leonard Bernstein as if he were the magic link between Richard Rogers and Brian Wilson the lyrics by the late Steven sonheim are as peerlessly playful as they are poetic and the choreography remains a Marvel of expressionistic Street movement for me though the original film version goes off the rails during the big Rumble I could never buy that Richard Beamer's Tony would pick up that switchblade and do what he does and Natalie Woods Maria gets angry at Tony for killing her brother for about 5 seconds before she seems to forget all about it there's an unconscious racist element to that quite apart from the regrettable decision to cast Natalie Wood as the Latina Maria and it gums up the emotional flow the unintentional subtext seems to be Bernardo was a Latino hothead so his death doesn't even matter to Maria all that much Westside Story May owe its story to Shakespeare but that doesn't mean it parses the last Act is less a romantic tragedy than a belabored gang war scramble that turns into a tidy plea for tolerance and those are problems I don't think the new version completely solves given how Kushner has retooled and enriched the script Tony and Maria's romance for instance isn't the melodramatic secret it was before I was surprised to see that the rumble climaxes in the same old hyped up but convincing way no even with Tony having been in prison I didn't buy it and once that happens you feel an energy leak out of the movie up till then Westside Story is a parade of delights Spielberg has staged America with its rousing mock patriotic tongue twisting lyrics as a swirling roving block party of triumphant feminine Bluster one hand one heart is now a gorgeous hym shot through stained glass sunlight and where G officer krupka set inside a police station is the number you'd think would have dated most it's actually a witty Wonder since the Jets are using the new furrowed brow therapeutic understanding of delinquency to defend themselves and the joke is that they know it's all bunk ariiana deos makes Anita a radiant force of Nature and the legendary Rita Moreno who played Anita in the original film is on hand as Valentina Widow of the soda shop owner document the 89-year-old mor Roo With A No Frills Luminosity steals every scene she's in and her rendition of somewhere is a highlight the whole film feels as contemporary as it needs to since topicality is baked into its tribal dance of racial animosity Westside Story is a bursting Livewire pageant of a movie I just wish it had a final act that soared instead of lumbering to what feels like an overly determined message movie Landing Steven Spielberg has finally made it he became Advanced for almost two decades the iconic American director made ridiculous movie over ridiculous movie seemingly for validation alone films like warhorse and the post have no reason whatsoever to exist except winning the Oscar for best picture and none of them did so Spielberg just said it and embraced his inner weirdo it's the only reason I can explain why he directed a remake of classic musical Westside Story Steven Spielberg must have advanced in case musicals aren't your thing Westside Story tells the tale of two teenage street gangs the Jets who are polish and the sharks who are Puerto Rican they are Waring over territory in a piece of mid-century New York neighborhood which consists in fist fighting and singing real catchy songs until jet OD G Tony a surprising anel Elgort and shark debutant Maria Rachel zegler fall hopelessly in love then everything becomes way way worse that's what happens when you can't keep it in your pants Steven Spielberg is an old man but Westside Story is almost as old as he is which is a good thing in the context of this remake when you bring up something from the past to a new audience it kind of belong to you you're free to add as much glitter and Pizzazz to the original material no one will give a and Spielberg splurged in glitter and possess because people who experience your version of the movie are the ones that matter not the old farts who saw the original in theater they're mostly dead anyway it wouldn't work for a movie who's 20 or 30 years old but it works for a movie in its 60s it was made in a different world so West Side Story is kind of fun because it is completely divorced from realism and be any desire to pay tribute to the original material whatsoever it's basically Romeo and Juliet with songs and Twirls and horny New York kids the scene where Tony and Maria first meet behind behind the bleachers at the gym is a good example of why it works it is soaked in colorful aggressive and unrealistic lighting that is feels like an exaggerated memory it feels like you feel when you're falling in love look at this getting older sucks for a thousand reasons but it's great for one thing you can relive the powerful moments from your Youth and share them with the world with no regard whatsoever for how it actually happened Westside Story never feels like a story straightforwardly delivered to you but an amped up recollection from someone who loves the original way too much and it is in the best possible way it's so visually and emotionally over the top that it'll bring back you own sleazy teenage Memories One strength of Westside Story is that it's insanely well cast with young energetic actor who give a about about their performance a lot of bitter people online claimed Ariana deos only got the Oscar for best supporting actress because she's queer and it couldn't any more wrong she is so fun and full of life in Westside Story that she actually blows main actress Rachel Ziggler out of the water she is by far the best new Talent I've come across in recent years and she's going to make it big anel Elgort is normally not a very good actor but the James Dean tragic xcon part makes the most out of his limited range he doesn't have to talk much or show emotion except in a specific moment so he pulls off the emotionally confused young man vibe to near Perfection he feels like a man who would risk everyone's life on a romantic whim now he looks about 30 years older than Rachel zegler because she is ridiculously tiny and youngl looking but they're going hard enough to make you look past that I would have probably never watched Westside Story if I hadn't been trapped on a plane for 7 hours but I did not regret my choice this is a movie that shouldn't exist in 2022 and that was made solely based on the fact that Steven Spielberg is old B Rich C very good at his job in D doesn't give a about anything except the good old days and it shows because it feels like a buried memory from a distant era it keep him on the bike let him make the movies he wants he's not hurting anyone West Side Story is a 2021 American Musical romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner the second featurelength adaptation of the 1957 stage musical which was itself inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet it stars anel Elgort and Rachel zegler the latter making her film debut with Ariana debose David Alvarez Mike Feist and Rita Moreno in supporting roles Moreno who starred in The 1961 film adaptation also served as an executive producer alongside Kushner the film features music composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Steven sonheim the film entered development in 2014 at 20th centur Fox Kushner began writing the screenplay in 2017 in January 2018 Spielberg was hired and casting began that September Justin pek choreographed The Dance sequences principal photography occurred in New York and New Jersey filming began in July 2019 and ran for 2 months Westside Story had its World premiere at jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in New York City on November 29th 2021 3 days after after sondheim's death the film was later theatrically distributed by 20th century studios in the United States on December 10th after being delayed a year due to the co9 pandemic the film received critical Acclaim with praise for the performances of the cast Spielberg's Direction the musical numbers the visual style and the cinematography with some critics deeming it superior to the 1961 film it was named one of the top 10 films of 2021 by the national board of review and the American Film Institute among its multiple Awards and nominations it received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards including best picture with deo's winning best supporting actress however the film was a box office bomb grossing only $76 million against a $100 million production budget and an estimated $300 million Break Even Target movie plot in 1957 the Jets a gang of white youth brawl with the sharks a gang of Puerto Rican youths for control of San Juan Hill on Manhattan's Upper West Side New York City Police Department sergeant krupka and Lieutenant shrank disbanded their latest scuffle with shrank deriding their conflict as pointless since the neighborhood will soon be demolished to make way for Lincoln Center the gangs are too proud to care and Jet leader riff proposes a rumble between the two gangs he approaches his friend Tony who is on parole for help Tony declines wishing to reform with the help of Valentina the Puerto Rican owner of Doc's General Store meanwhile Maria shark leader bernardo's sister is betrothed to his friend Chino but yearns for an independent future at a neighborhood dance at the community center that night Tony and Maria meet and fall in love infuriating Bernardo however Bernardo accepts rift's terms to participate in the proposed Rumble provided that Tony attends as well Tony later confesses his love to Mar on her fire escape and they vow to reconvene the next day Bernardo and his girlfriend Anita argue about life in New York compared to Puerto Rico with Anita's belief in the American dream contrasting with bernardo's rude pessimism police interrogate the Jets who deny any knowledge about the rumble during their date at the cloysters Tony reveals to Maria that his year-long imprisonment for nearly beating a rival gang member to death had scared him into reforming Maria makes Tony promise to stop the rumble and they make promises to one another as if marrying before God later Tony tries to convince Riff to call off the rumble by stealing his newly bought gun but the Jets steal it back with riff reasserting that the rumble will happen as scheduled shrank orders krupka and other police officers to stop the rumble from occurring but they are unsuccessful arriving at the rumble Tony speaks to riff who is so confident Tony has joined them he relinquishes the gun Tony then explains his feelings for Maria to Bernardo but Bernardo uses his boxing skills to injure Tony as Tony refuses to fight Bernardo then goes after riff so Tony fights punching Bernardo on the ground but stopping before knocking him unconscious unwilling to let Tony walk away Bernardo goes after him and produces a knife after a brief duel Bernardo fatally stabs riff before Tony fatally stabs Bernardo The Gangs flee when the police arrive and Chino walks away last with rift's gun Maria gushes about her love for Tony to her co-workers in the late night cleaning crew at the gimbals department store once their shift is over she spots Chino who reveals that Tony killed Bernardo she cannot believe it until Tony comes to her room later and admits it she is furious with him but begs him not to him turn himself into the police as it would mean losing him as well they plan to run away together Valentina laments bernardo's and rift's death while reflecting on her interracial relationship with her deceased white husband document after identifying bernardo's body at the morg Anita returns home and sees Maria and Tony together as he leaves the apartment Anita argues with Maria but eventually accepts that she and Tony are in love at the boxing gym Chico plans to kill Tony with a gun but the Sharks tell him you kill a gringo they kill you shrank interrogates Maria at her apartment about Tony's whereabouts Maria sends Anita to ask Valentina about the safety of a cousin as a way of passing on a warning for Tony in front of shrank however at docks Anita encounters the Jets who insult and attempt to gang rape her even as their girls protest until Valentina arrives and intervenes traumatized Anita calls Valentina a traitor for housing the Jets then claims that Chino killed Maria and vows to return to Puerto Rico Valentina condemns the Jets who sh painfully disperse before relaying Anita's message to Tony who runs into the streets begging for Chino to kill him anybody's tries to get him off the street but fails as Maria arrives to Tony's relief Chino emerges and fatally shoots him after Tony dies in her arms a devastated Maria takes the gun and aims it at the gathered Jets and sharks berating them for the senseless deaths their conflict caused before tearfully dropping the gun as the police AR to arrest The Gangs finally end the feud by coming together to carry Tony's corpse into ducks with Maria following close behind anel Elgort as Tony Rachel zegler as Maria Ariana deos as Anita David Alvarez as Bernardo Mike Feist as riff Rita Moreno as Valentina Brian Darcy James as sergeant krupka Corey stole as Lieutenant shrank Josh Andre Rivera as Chino there me his anybody's Anna Isabelle as Rosalia Andrea Burns as FAA Jamila Velasquez as mesh Yasmin alers as louvia Jamie Harris as Rory Curtis cook as Abe Paloma garc as graziella Kyle Kaufman as ice Shan Harrison Jones as action Patrick Higgins as John baby John Ben Cook as mouthpiece Kyle Allen as Balan miles ear as snowboy Talia Ryder as Tessa Mattie Zigler as Velma analie searo as provie development in March 2014 Steven Spielberg first seriously expressed interest in directing an adaptation of Westside story prompting 20th Century Fox to acquire the rights to the project Tony Kushner who previously worked with Spielberg on Munich 2005 and Lincoln 2012 revealed in a July 20 17 interview that he was writing the screenplay for the film stating he would be leaving the musical numbers intact and that the story would be closer to the original stage musical than to the 1961 film in a 2020 interview Spielberg told Vanity Fair Westside Story was actually the first piece of popular music our family ever allowed into the home fell completely in love with it as a kid Spielberg would ultimately dedicate the film to his father Arnold who died during prod uction at age 103 divisions between unlike minded people is as old as time itself and the divisions between the Sharks and the Jets in 1957 which inspired the musical were profound but not as divided as we find ourselves today it turned out in the middle of the development of the script things widened which I think in a sense sadly made the story of those racial divides not just territorial divides more relevant to today's audience than perhaps it even was in 1957 inch pre-production in January 2018 Spielberg was figuring out his next two directorial vehicles sources said that he was eyeing a fifth Indiana Jones film and then would either precede or follow quickly with another film it was reported that one might be his dream project a new version of Westside Story this was followed a few days later with an open casting call issued for the characters Maria Tony Anita and Bernardo additional open casting calls were hosted in New York City in April and in Orlando Florida in May in July the fifth Indiana Jones film was pushed back allowing Spielberg to begin pre-production on Westside Story Justin pek was hired to choreograph the film in September with ano Elgort cast in the film as Tony in November Isa Gonzalez emerged as a contender for the role of Anita Rita Moreno who played Anita in the 1961 on film plays Valentina and also serves as an executive producer for the film in January 2019 newcomer Rachel zegler was picked from over 30,000 applicants to play Maria with Ariana deos David Alvarez and Josh Andre Rivera also cast as Anita Bernardo and Chino respectively Isabella mered also auditioned for Maria in March Cory sto and Brian Darcy James joined the cast a month later the rest of The Ensemble comprising the Jets and sharks factions was announced Mike Feist was personally invited to audition by Spielberg who approached him after seeing him in Deer Evan Hansen on Broadway in 2016 he originally auditioned for Tony before being cast as riff instead filming filming took place in Harlem and other Manhattan locations and in Flatlands Brooklyn in New York City in July 2019 there were 10 days of shooting in Patterson New Jersey where an outdoor set was built in August filming also took place in Newark and other parts of Essex County New Jersey it wrapped on September 27th for a total of 79 days of shooting all of the sets were constructed at a warehouse at Steiner Studios as one of the film's executive producers Moreno was on set for a large portion of production often Consulting with peek on choreography Moreno described shooting the scene where Valentina saves Anita as particularly difficult due to her own well-documented experiences with sexual assault in Hollywood as well as The Surreal challenge of saving a character she played six decades prior the scene was rehearsed with an intimacy coordinator to ensure deza's safety during the scene Moreno who recalled crying hysterically and being unable to stop when she shot the same scene for the 1961 film was surprised that such a position existed upon being told about it in a joint interview with her and deos she also had the honor to do clapperboard for the film's famous puddle shot of Tony stepping into a large puddle of water and making it become a pool of Rippling light while singing Maria that shot was the last to be filmed on the final day of principal photography as it was a last minute suggestion made by cinematographer yanish Kaminsky to Spielberg following completion of the balcony scene the beginning of the dance at the gym sequence involved three different shots stitched together to make it look like one continuous shot Kaminsky described that it starts as steady cam bringing the actors down the hallway then as soon as the doors open up it transitions into a cable cam shot that goes up into the air and over to the other side of the gym he went on to mention that its execution was also laid upon the film's lighting team we had our lights rigged on the dimmer so when the camera was turning around some sections of the scene would dim out another section would dim up with the lights you set the light so it's in One Direction then when you you turn around you have to either cut or relight or do lights in the dimming board so you can fade the lights in or fade the lights out so you can maintain the romance and beauty of the shot Andy Aaron who served as sound effects recordist added that the dance footsteps during the sequence were recorded live on set allowing those tracks to be used in the final sound mix without the music intruding in conclusion Kaminsky added that the shot gives a very clear indication to the audience what this particular scene will be about it's about two teams competing against each other in terms of which team has the better dancers better performers more charming and more enticing this moment from the film went viral on social media and filmmaker guo Del Toro described it as extremely hard to execute Rachel zler also noted the shot's significance describing it as very Spielberg esque Spielberg and sonheim initially wanted to cut I feel pretty from the film its presence in the original musical right after the rumble was largely done against the wishes of sonheim he and Bernstein had been instructed by The Producers to add an upbeat song after intermission to start act two and so the song was written in protest sonheim would later remark that he was embarrassed by its lyrical content to the point that he allowed it to be cut from the 2020 Broadway Revival directed by Evo vanov Spielberg likewise questioned whether the upbeat song would still work without an intermission between between it and the rumble it was ultimately due to the intervention of Tony Kushner that the song remained as Spielberg later explained Tony Kushner explained to me and then I explained to Steven that this is the first time in our story that the entire audience is ahead of Maria story and the audience will feel very protective of her because we know she's about to find out Westside Story movie review I remember at some point someone telling me or perhaps I read it sometime that the problem with Hollywood remaking films is that they always remake the good ones I can see their point whoever they were If You remake a bad film there is so much scope to improve things better casting better script Superior production values take a silent film and render it with sound or a black and white film and give it some color making a good film means competing with something everybody already loves is your script really going to be better your actors more talented the viewing experience more rewarding Steven Spielberg has directed a new adaptation of the popular musical Westside Story and has clearly created a piece that responds to and is informed by Robert weise's earlier 1961 adaptation weise's film is honestly an absolute classic a superlative achievement from a director whose career boasted several such Classics Spiel Bird's version is better more than that it is the most satisfying and beautifully composed feature film I have seen in 2021 it is the director's best feature in more than 20 years it is and please trust me on this the sort of movie that reminds you why you watch movies so much hyperbole I know you may also know I am an Ardent fan of Spielberg's work here's the thing though since the late 1990s Spielberg's work has shifted on a visual level there's been a growing Reliance on CGI and an increasingly milky look to his film's courtesy of regular cinematographer y Kaminsky the narratives of his films felt flabbier than they used to be which I find is not uncommon among directors as they get older Spielberg is 74 all up his films in recent years felt like the work of a man in love with the process of making Cinema but not so much the results this reached its Nadar with his last feature Ready Player One 2018 a movie that certainly seemed like it would have been an absolute playground to put together but which was positively rage inducing through which to sit Westside Story is clearly a very personal work for Spielberg in interviews he has spoken of its significance in his childhood the film is dedicated to his father Perhaps it is this personal importance or perhaps it is the pressure of Daring to remake a classic it is in all likelihood both whatever the motivation the result is an honest to God Masterpiece on the first viewing it is clear that I for one will be watching this film many more times in in the years to come it all feels like a sharp breeze taking away all the dust and detritus of Cinema in the 2020s the photography is crisp and detailed as if the film was shot back in 1961 in tandem with the original there is a uncomplicated Beauty to the compositions and the camera movement Leonard Bernstein's famous music has been masterfully arranged by David Newman and award-winning writer Tony Kushner has adapted and updated the script there have been changes to plot and character and they are without exception smart changes it feels like Classic Hollywood and it feels contemporary when Martin scors got misunderstood and unfairly maligned last year for attempting to distinguish between Marvel movies and honest to God proper films this is what he was talking about Marvel Studios have engineered an enviable conveyor line of wonderfully bright and entertaining screen experiences but they're disposable and they're easily enjoyed at home Westside Story needs to be seen on a big screen and Via immersive sound and most importantly with an actual audience it isn't digitally confected it feels real and it feels enormous it begs for a community to share the experience in a theater one palpable difference between the Spielberg and wise versions is that this new film Embraces the cultural diversity casting a wide variety of latino/latina talent in the numerous Puerto Rican roles it delivers whole sections of dialogue in in Spanish and it does so without subtitles because that would mean subsuming the cultural effect a change in gender for a supporting character even allows Spielberg to incorporate original Westside Story alamri Moreno in a powerful and deeply effective role these changes lift the material Far and Away Beyond wise's older less diverse film the central cast is exceptional on both sides as Maria Rachel zegler represents the most obvious arrival of a major female talent in American Film since Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone 2010 Co lead anel Elgort perhaps the weakest link in a profoundly good cast remains enormously watchable with an odd Harrison fores quality as the fiery Bernardo David Alvarez Sparks with a brooding intensity it reminded me immediately of a much younger Russell crow in Romper stomper 1992 there is an identical sense of here of someone genuinely dangerous and Men in Mike Feist is an idiosyncratic yet vital choice for gang leader riff there is always a most valuable player in any film work and for my money here it is Ariana deos as Anita the part originally played by Moreno her presence is commanding her range is impressive when she performs America it brings the house down when she smiles it fills the theater when she cries it is heartbreaking it takes a lot to outshine in such a wonderful cast but there she is for my money the best female performance I've seen in 2021 honestly the rest simply feels like adding punctuation the songs are great the film is peppered with well-chosen moments of humor the choreography is truly superb this is Spielberg's first musical I always assumed he would be brilliant at it because he remains so brilliantly talented at action watch his greatest big budget spectacles r ERS of the Lost Arc Jurassic Park at all and you can see his masterful control of screen geography where are the players where is the camera what is the landscape all he ever needed to do was add a melody in many ways this is the most difficult of films to appropriately praise because while it updates and transforms it does not truly innovate the techniques and the talent brought to bear on West Side Story are nothing new instead they are tried and tested possibly unfashionable but undeniably better than pretty much anything else being generated on a Hollywood budget these days this is Cinema as the nostalgists and the rose tinted will Infuse about only you get to see it in the theater now and you get to see it for real Steven Spielberg's Westside Story 2.0 is an ecstatic Act of ancestor worship a vividly dreamed cunningly modified and Visually staggering Revival no one but Spielberg could have brought it off creating a movie in which Leonard Bernstein scor and Steven Sim's lyrics Blaze out with Fierce new Clarity Spielberg retains Maria's narcissistic ey feel pretty transplanted from the bridal Workshop to a fancy department store where she's working as a cleaner this was the number whose coward Ian skittishness sonheim himself had second thoughts about but its confection is entirely palatable Spielberg has worked with screenwriter Tony Kushner to change the original book by Arthur Lawrence tilting the emphases and giving new stretches of unsubtitled Spanish dialogue and keeping much of the visual idiom of Jerome robins's stylized choreography this new Westside Story isn't updated historically yet neither is it a shot forsh shot remake but daringly and maybe almost defiantly it reproduces the original period Ambience with stunning digital Fabrications of late 50s New York whose authentic detail coexists with an unashamed theatricality on the big screen the effect is hyperreal as if you have some how hallucinated your way back 70 years on to both the musical stage for the Broadway opening night and also the city streets outside I couldn't watch without gasping those opening prologue sequences in which the camera drifts over the slum clearance wreckage of Manhattan's postwar Upper West Side as if in a Sci-Fi mystery with strangely familiar musical phrases echoing up from below ground other information about this film Boxing Day in Australia was when the remake of the musical Westside Story came came out to rave reviews but a box office that was somehow a surprising disappointment to people who decided to release the remake of a classic musical a week after one of the most anticipated films of 2021 that it be Spider-Man no way home for those playing the home game to the shock of no one who has even a half functioning brain this was inevitable while musicals have been getting a lot more critical praise lately in the Heights kind of showed that they aren't exactly box office smashes a combination of of musical remake of beloved classic and releasing against Marvel was an inevitable death nail for the film though none of that is why I avoided Westside Story no I avoided it because I have a serious problem with the lead actor June 19th 2020 was when the first allegation of sexual assault against anel Elgort came out an allegation that was certainly credible enough for me to be concerned about it even coming with a photo of the accuser and anel together this was followed by a series of women coming forward to accuse him of coming on to them when they were underage and he was 20 now obviously these are allegations and here's a good write up of all of them and anel has denied them but when this kind of thing happens it's up to people to decide how they want to react and I chose to not give my money to Westside Story if you did that's what works for you but it's not what works for me and I just decided I wasn't going to see this and then it got about half a dozen Oscar nominations and I kind of need need to talk about it now since I have that Oscar list to deal with fortunately it's on Disney plus so it's not like I'm increasing box office or anything so yeah weird lines to draw but it's my lines anyway on to the review now to be fair I'm going to judge Westside Story without taking into account this baggage as best I can but note that the baggage is there and I'm only human Westside Story is an adaptation of the 1957 stage musical of the same name which also was previously adapted in 1961 the story is one we all know well because it's basically Romeo and Juliet but in New York with extra racism thrown in the Jets a white gang led by riff Mike Feist are in a constant war with the sharks a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernando David Alvarez the Jets former leader Tony anel Elgort has just gotten out of prison and is trying to avoid trouble but also wants to hang out with his friends from his old gang who drag him along to a dance their Tony meets a girl named Maria Rachel zegler and the two of them immediately fall in love despite the fact that Maria is Bern's brother which means there is a bit of a problem with the sister of a shark dating someone associated with the Jets Tony and Maria don't seem to care though their love is strong and could overcome anything you know unless the war between the Jets and the Sharks gets so intense that it destroys several lives maybe Anita Ariana deos can talk some sense into Maria before things go the exact way they have to go because this is Romeo and Juliet that story doesn't come with a happy ending attached to say that Steven Spielberg knows how to direct a beautiful looking film that flows effortlessly and is firing on all cylinders is such an obvious statement that it almost doesn't need to be said but West Side Story is a film which shows that somehow after over 55 films Steven Spielberg hasn't lost a single beat for his debut musical film Steven decided to tackle one of the most beloved pieces of musical theater that has already had an adaptation that's considered one of the best films of all time and Justified the attempt brilliantly shocker I know one of the greatest film directors of all time is good enough to pull this off but he does it so well that the elements he pulls together to make this film work are just stunning the visuals of Westside Story are absolutely top-notch from the way the camera moves to the perfect framing of every shot to the ability to effortlessly go between bright glossy music iCal numbers to dark intense dramatic shots that elevate the material you can tell that so much effort went into making sure Westside Story was able to look its best with modern technology but still feels like it could take place anytime the framing in particular is just expert knowing when to get the good closeup on a performer's face to let them work their magic or to pull back so we can see every single dance step the visuals are almost scientifically chosen to enhance the story as much as possible and it works of course one can't really praise Westside Story without talking about its performers and most of the performances here are Sublime Rachel zler is an absolute Gold Mine of a discovery filling Maria with pure warmth and innocence that makes you fall in love with her at about the same speed Tony does her voice is Angelic and her screen presence is undeniable to the point where it's actually viscerally shocking to realize this is her feature film debut if this is how she introduces herself to the world the world is not ready for what she's going to give us in the coming years then there's the combo of David Alvarez and Mike Feist as Bernardo and riff respectively who basically have to be the anchors for the main conflict and they absolutely nail it riff is sleazy yet weirdly charming and Bernardo is undeniably cool but could also you up at a moment's notice if he needs to most of the time they're playing off each other and godamn it do they light up the screen especially when they dance hell all the sharks and jets are pretty damn great though special note being drawn to the inclusion of Iris minus as anybody's who in this film is a trans male character being played by a trans non-binary performer it's just a lovely little bit of inclusion that they absolutely use to further the story of bigotry that Westside story revolves around but also just gives a great performer a chance to shine Westside Story as a whole though belongs to Ariana deos as Anita to such an extent that she might win the Oscar for the same role that Rita Moren won it for when the first film adaptation of Westside Story came out she is impossible to look away from and displays a talent that cannot be denied flowing effortlessly between the comedic dramatic and musical moments of the character Ariana deos makes Dam sure you are going to notice and remember her for this performance because she has put everything into it and deserves every bit of Praise she's been getting and then some seriously her performance of a boy like that alone just put the Oscar on her Shelf and then there's ano so putting my problems aside and just judging on the performance alone he's the weakest link here I'm not going to outright say he's bad he's what one might call serviceable if they were feeling generous but the truth is that he's letting everyone else do the heavy lifting his performance is surprisingly wooden borderline expressionless at times and just relying on looks and charm that he is vastly overestimating as for his singing oh how can I put this fairly he's not bad I've just heard better in more recent years specifically when I listened to Glee actor Darren Chris performed these same songs a few years ago it just feels like anel is there for a name brand he didn't offer and not because he was the best person for the role indeed the fact that everyone else is basically carrying him through the film is proof that he's just a liability to Westside Story and that's before we factor in everything else to try and redo Westside Story is one hell of a gamble but it paid off this time Spielberg fills his version of Westside Story with passion and energy correcting some serious issues from previous versions not a spot of blackface to be seen here and introducing the world to several amazing performers who are destined to be huge names if you can get past the huge pile of luggage that comes with the leading man and I understand those who can't it's why this review only got done because of the Oscars then this is a genuinely great version of a much-loved play that proves once again that Spielberg can basically do just about any anything he wants Steven Spielberg's eloquent and graceful Westside Story opens with the familiar image of the Jets prowling across New York City they toss paint cans to one another gathering in larger numbers as they slink and slide through the streets occasionally their strides break into a dance move a spin or a slide across the pavement always in unison it's almost as if they can't help it as if they need to express themselves through movement much of Westside story is about that need that sense of something under the surface that just has to escape restlessness passion anger displacement the sense that something's coming that so many people feel when they're young immediately one can feel the craftsmanship of this rest aging of the classic Broadway smash the camera doesn't just capture action on a set it Glides with the performers and we Glide along with them the editing avoids the choppy rhythms of so many recent musicals allowing viewers to feel motion and connection we are instantly hooked and will be for the next 2.5 hours fans of the original Stage production and beloved film will argue over the need for a 2021 version of Westside Story although rest aging a classic play is an annual event in major theaters around the world for some reason remakes and film are more often seen as attempts to supplant an original whereas theatergoers are accustomed to the process of new voices interpreting classic texts the new voices here are those of absolute Geniuses including Spielberg writer Tony Kushner angels in America cinematographer yanish Kaminsky choreographer Justin peek and a stunning Ensemble of new voices and talented veterans Kushner and Spielberg have stayed loyal to the play and original film while also making notable changes in a way that makes it fresh and vibrant and they have staged their production in a way that's often mesmerizing one Mis ided casting decision holds it back from absolute greatness but there are so many breathtaking perfect sequences in this Westside Story that I suspect it will do what the original did for a lot of people including this critic who was raised on movie musicals make them a fan of the entire genre the opening sequence sets up the Rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks the former group of tough-talking New Yorkers is led by riff Mike Feist giving one of several star making performances in the film who is is tired of the sharks taking the city that he thinks belongs to him leading the Puerto Rican sharks is Bernardo David Alvarez a boxer who isn't about to give an inch to anyone and who warns his sister Maria Rachel zegler to never even look at a gringo that doesn't last long Maria Bernardo and his partner Anita Ariana deos go to a dance that night where Maria catches the eye of Tony anel Elgort a former jet who is trying to go straight just released from prison after nearly killing a guy Tony lives in the basement of the store in which he works watched over by a mother figure named Valentina a Transcendent Rita Moreno who won an Oscar for the first film and could do so again of course anyone even Vaguely Familiar with the Shakespeare inspired original knows that this New York Romeo falls hard for his Puerto Rican Juliet and yet Spielberg and Kushner find new notes to hit in a musical that many know by heart the changes are not superficial but feel like elements that are being pulled out of the original in a way that 2021 audiences will see differently than those did in 1961 including enriching The Immigrant narrative at the center of this piece characters like Maria Bernardo and Anita have a rich backstory that the original never allowed and Spielberg also allows his historian side to influence the take opening the film with a shot of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts under construction a job that historically pushed immigrant communities out of that part of the city so much of Westside Story takes place against a backdrop of crumbling facades or under the shadow of a wrecking ball it's a glorious symbol of not only a time when the city and country were changing but how it reflects the incomplete nature of these young people looking for their lives to be built in terms of performance Westside Story make instant stars of at least three people Mike Feist Ariana deos and Rachel zegler of course theater fans don't need an introduction to debose a Tony nominee who was in the original production of Hamilton as anyone who knows the original can tell you debose gets the showstopper in America and it is one of the Cinematic highlights of the Year Spielberg and Kushner pull the number down from the rooftops sending Anita and her friends through the streets dancing and singing with such passion that you can sense it through the camera Spielberg and Kaminsky staging here is stunning moving so gracefully around the performers in a way that's never distracting but only designed to make sure you don't miss a thing the camera work incorporates a little too much lens flare but it's the framing and fluidity that make it exemplary Feist and zler also find that well of passion that riff and Maria need on the other hand Elgort rarely feels like he's on the same page these characters need to be almost jittery with the adrenaline of Youth an uncontrollable feeling that leads them to dance to love to fight everyone gets the that but Elgort he's a blank slate in the first half brought slightly to Life by the melodrama but never enough to stop the thoughts of what could have been with a performer who better understood Tony's desperation he's caught between friendship and love knowing that giving into either could send him back to jail or Worse Elgort never conveys those Stakes Luckily everything around him does Feist finds a remarkable vulnerability in riff zler makes you believe that love has her feeling pretty Al As Nails the overprotective nature of men who go too far debose has arguably the largest range from America to the end of Anita's tragic Arc and then there's Rita Moreno when I realized a moment that she was about to have in terms of one of the original songs from the show I gasped she grounds the Final Act of the film in a way that it really needs there's so much Beauty in this Westside Story it merges things that have truly shaped pop culture from the graceful Precision of Spielberg who has always had a musical director's eye in terms of how he choreographs his scenes to the masterful songwriting of Steven sonheim and Leonard Bernstein to the brilliant writing of Tony Kushner to the Immigrant experience in this country it grabs you from the very beginning and takes you there somehow someday somewhere more detail Steven Spielberg's Westside Story has a Brash effervescence you can feel the joy he got out of making it and the kick is infectious directing his his first musical Spielberg moves into the big roomy space of a Broadway meets Hollywood classic rearranges the furniture the film screenwriter Tony Kushner has spiced up the dialogue and tossed out the most cringeworthy knick-knacks and gives it all a Fresh coat of desaturated bombed out city block gritty as reality paint he makes it his own at the same time Spielberg stays reverently true to what Generations have loved about Westside Story the Swoon Factor the yearning beauty of those songs the hypnotic jack knife ballet of 50s delinquents dancing out their aggression on the New York streets there are scenes in Spielberg's version that will melt you scenes that will make your pulse race and scenes where you simply sit back and revel in the big spirited grander of it all the setting is the Upper West Side in 1957 something the film lets us know with a wink that nods to how Spielberg and Kushner are going to Tinker with the material Robert wise's 1961 screen version opened with that godai panoramic sweep of Manhattan but Spielberg's opens with a panorama of rubble the camera swooping over what looks like a war zone which turns out to be the wrecking ball slum clearance that will make way for the construction of Lincoln Center the turf war between the film's white and puero Rican teenage gangs the Jets and the Sharks now has a bigger picture backdrop both are being crushed by gentrification which is to say part of their tragic Folly is they never realize they're in the same boat the Jets start off slathering paint on the mural of a Puerto Rican flag as the boys move and groove to their inner Thug singing jet song when you're a jet you're a jet all the way Justin peek's choreography plays off the hypnotic limb thrusting Rhythm of the city athleticism of Jerome Robin's original dances and Spielberg working with his Dynamic cinematographer yanish Kaminsky has the camera moves to match we seem to be gliding through the streets right along with the Jets channeling their Reckless exhilaration and the 50s Punk acting has been liberated so that the snarls and struts aren't trapped in that bubble of old movie corniness The 1961 Westside Story felt dated in 1961 as riff the leader of the Jets Mike Feist has a lean sociopathic squint and David Alvarez plays Bernardo leader of the sharks with a mean Swagger of self-righteousness Bernardo is now a boxer fighting is what gets him high and his problem is that he has never embraced his life in America the racial antagonism he faces each day has singed his soul and Alvarez infuses the character with a dark side of Rockstar bravado of course at the center of Westside Story is something maybe I should say somewhere softer and more tenderly lyrical and Spielberg has done an ace job of casting his two romantic leads before now I've never been a fan of anel elor cour one's first thought about him may be that he's Ashton cutcher without irony and that you miss the irony but in Westside Story Elgort with lips like Brando's has a brooding heart and personality that pop and he's a wonderfully expressive kuner Tony updated by Kushner script has now spent a year in prison for nearly punching someone to death and El Gort speaking in understated Street vowels strikes just the right balance of sweetness and danger at the high school dance which Spielberg stages with a hip twirling electricity that Rivals the big school dance number in Greece yes that's a compliment Tony has his first glimpse of Maria Rachel zegler the girl who will burn down what's left of his gang loyalty and she has her first glimpse of him and well it could all spearhead a Revival of love at first sight singing Maria his voice soaring into the upper register Tony is transported and so are we in the Oscar winning 19 1961 film version adapted from the 1957 Broadway show Maria was mostly a perky saintly Innocent but here she gets a Spitfire upgrade the charismatic newcomer Rachel zler gives her a touch of fierceness and a boldly chiseled stare of longing when Maria and Tony sing tonight the most Transcendent song in Westside Story they're on the fire escape in vintage Romeo and Juliet of the tenement fashion and Spielberg stages their duet with an intimate choreograph CFT flow so that the words seem to spin and dance their love is an oasis of Hope in the concrete jungle and that's an emblem of how Westside Story now lands in the larger movie world as a heady nostalgic crowd-pleaser that offers the rare alternative to both Blockbuster Overkill and Indie angst can the Oscars possibly say no to it that said I've always had a love/ gripe relationship with Westside Story it has what may be the greatest set of songs in any American Musical composed by Leonard Bernstein as if he were the magic link between Richard Rogers and Brian Wilson the lyrics by the late Steven sonheim are as peerlessly playful as they are poetic and the choreography remains a Marvel of expressionistic Street movement for me though the original film version goes off the rails during the big Rumble I could never bu that Richard Beamer's Tony would pick up that switchblade and do what he does and Natalie Woods Maria gets angry at Tony for killing her brother for about 5 seconds before she seems to forget all about it there's an unconscious racist element to that quite apart from the regrettable decision to cast Natalie Wood as the Latina Maria and it gums up the emotional flow the unintentional subtext seems to be Bernardo was a Latino hothead so his death doesn't even matter to Maria all that much Westside Story May owe its story to Shakespeare but that doesn't mean it parses the last Act is less a romantic tragedy than a belabored gang war scramble that turns into a tidy plea for tolerance and those are problems I don't think the new version completely solves given how Kushner has retooled and enriched the script Tony and Maria's romance for instance isn't the melodramatic secret it was before I was surprised to see that the rumble climax is in the same old hyped up but unconvincing way no even with Tony having been in prison I didn't buy it and and once that happens you feel an energy leak out of the movie up till then Westside Story is a parade of delights Spielberg has staged America with its rousing mock patriotic tongue twisting lyrics as a swirling roving block party of triumphant feminine Bluster one hand one heart is now a gorgeous him shot through stained glass sunlight and where G officer krupka set inside a police station is the number you'd think would have dated most it's actually a witty Wonder since the Jets are using the new furrowed brow therapeutic understanding of delinquency to defend themselves and the joke is that they know it's all bunk Ariana deos makes Anita a radiant force of Nature and the legendary Rita Moreno who played Anita in the original film is on hand as Valentina Widow of the soda shop owner document the 89-year-old Moreno With A No Frills Luminosity steals every scene she's in and her rendition of somewhere is a highlight the whole film feels as contemporary as it needs to since topicality is baked into its tribal dance of racial animosity Westside Story is a bursting Livewire pageant of a movie I just wish it had a final act that soared instead of lumbering to what feels like an overly determined message movie Landing Steven Spielberg has finally made it he became Advanced for almost two decades the iconic American director made ridicul ulous movie over ridiculous movie seemingly for validation alone films like warhorse and the post have no reason whatsoever to exist except winning the Oscar for best picture and none of them did so Spielberg just said it and embraced his inner weirdo it's the only reason I can explain why he directed a remake of classic musical Westside Story Steven Spielberg must have advanced in case musicals aren't your thing Westside Story tells the tale of two teen street gangs the Jets who are polish and the sharks who are Puerto Rican they are Waring over territory in a piece of mid-century New York neighborhood which consists in fist fighting and singing real catchy songs until jet OD G Tony a surprising anel Elgort and shark debutant Maria Rachel zler fall hopelessly in love then everything becomes way way worse that's what happens when you can't keep it in your pants Steven Spielberg is an old man but Westside Story is almost as old as he is which is a good thing in the context of this remake when you bring up something from the past to a new audience it kind of belonged to you you're free to add as much glitter and Pizzazz to the original material no one will give a and Spielberg splurged in glitter and possess because people who experience your version of the movie are the ones that matter not the old farts who saw the original in theater they're mostly dead anyway it wouldn't work for a movie who's 20 or 30 years old but it works for a movie in its 60s it was made in a different world so West Side Story is kind of fun because it is completely divorced from realism and be any desire to pay tribute to the original material whatsoever it's basically Romeo and Juliet with songs and Twirls and horny New York kids the scene where Tony and Maria first meet behind the bleachers at the gym is a good example of why it works it is soaked in colorful aggressive unrealistic lighting that is feels like an exaggerated memory it feels like you feel when you're falling in love look at this getting older sucks for a thousand reasons but it's great for one thing you can relive the powerful moments from your Youth and share them with the world with no regard whatsoever for how it actually happened Westside Story never feels like a story straightforwardly delivered to you but an amped up recollection from someone who loves the original way too much and it is in the best possible away it's so visually and emotionally over the toop that it'll bring back you own sleazy teenage Memories One strength of Westside Story is that it's insanely well-cast with young energetic actor who give a about about their performance a lot of bitter people online claimed Ariana debose only got the Oscar for best supporting actress because she's queer and it couldn't any more wrong she is so fun and full of life in Westside Story that she actually blows main actress Rachel Ziggler out of the water she is by far the best new Talent I've come across in recent years and she's going to make it big anel Elgort is normally not a very good actor but the James Dean tragic xcon part makes the most out of his limited range he doesn't have to talk much or show emotion except in a specific moment so he pulls off the emotionally confused young man vibe to near Perfection he feels like a man who would risk everyone's life on a romantic whim now he looks about 30 years older than Rachel zegler because she is ridiculously tiny and youngl looking but they're going hard enough to make you look past that I would have probably never watched Westside Story if I hadn't been trapped on a plane for 7 hours but I did not regret my choice this is a movie that shouldn't exist in 2022 and that was made solely based on the fact that Steven Spielberg is old B Rich C very good at his job in D doesn't give a about anything except the good old days and it shows because it feels like a buried memory from a distant era it keep him on the bike let him make the movies he wants he's not hurting anyone this film directed by Steven Spielberg screenplay by Tony Kushner produced by Steven Spielberg Christy mosco creger Kevin McCullum starring anel Elgort Rachel zler Ariana deos David Alvarez Mike Fe Rita Moreno cinematography yanis Kaminsky edited by Michael con Sarah Brasher music by Leonard Bernstein production companies amlin entertainment tsg entertainment distributed by 20th century Studios a release dates November 29th 2021 in jazz at Lincoln Center December 10th 2021 in United States running time 156 minutes country United States languages English Spanish budget $100 million box office $ 74.8 million so guys this is the review of Westside Story movie and some information about it how do you like our today's video please let us know by commenting and if you like this video please like it share it and don't forget to subscribe to our Channel thanks for watching [Music]