Review of Zoot Suit (1981) by Tanner A — 09 Dec 2011

Pretty much awful all around. The style is great. I loved having everything set on a stage and using it like film. Aside from that, we have a narrator who might be over the top to be funny, or he might have actually thought it was a good idea to put on a dramatic performance like that.

Either way, it didn't work. I wasn't laughing with him and I wasn't compelled by him. I laughed when he came on and I wanted him to go away immediately. Daniel Valdez puts on one of the most dead performances I have ever seen.

He doesn't live the character Henry Reyna. Instead, he waits for the beats and makes the faces Valdez told him to. It's hard to care about a character that doesn't ever feel real. Then the film ventures off into some romantic tangent with an underage girl and it feels even less real.

It loses focus. If you want to watch a movie about the zoot suit era and the struggles of hispanics during the 40s, maybe watch this. I don't know, maybe there aren't any better films about the subject.

But if you want to watch a film that is set on a stage and also keeps real characters and captures the theatrical feel, watch All That Jazz. That is all.