Review of West Side Story (2021) by Kylofilm — 03 Feb 2022

West Side Story to me is the definition of cinema. It’s beauty made me shed a year which I am not afraid to say. It’s direction is some of best of the year with its elaborate sets and it’s flawless dance numbers. Spielberg in recent years has been a little hit or miss but this is by far one of my favourites from him. It’s his first musical which is surprising considering his track record and he made a flawless musical epic.

The performances in this film range from joyous to emotionally heartbreaking such as the final 20 mins. Ansel Elgort was excellent but the real shining star to me was Ariana Debose. She was incredible and I hope the academy recognises her otherwise I will be very upset. Rachel Zegler who plays Maria is absolutely stunning. She brings an effortless feeling to her character of which was very important in the original, he nailed it. I’m super excited to see her in other projects in the future.

West Side Story has some of the best cinematography of the year with its long takes and incredibly beautiful colour correction. It’s very vivid when it needs to be and is dark when valid. It uses a lot of lens flares which can sometimes be overkill in certain instances in movies, but they work so well here. They give a certain feel to a scene and set the mood for what is happening in that moment.

This has the best music of 2021 which was previously helmed by In The Heights. I had the music on repeat on the way home, especially the song “Maria” of which is probably my favourite. It’s song of which is played when Tony (Ansel Elgort) is singing about the love of his life Maria (Rachel Zegler). It’s such a powerful song and scene of which made me cry just seeing their love on screen of which felt so real.

When the climax comes, it hits you like a dump truck with emotion of which made moved. I don’t tend to cry in movies but this got me 100% with its stunning emotional depth and characters. Even the side characters were great fun and had no issues with them. That final shot had me balling, not going to say anything other than it’s very upsetting yet powerful, a brilliant ode to love and pain.

Overall, this is the first time that I was crying in the cinema because of not only emotional depth, but beauty. West Side Story to me is the definition of cinema and you need to check this out for sure because it’s a new favourite of mine.