As Tony crooned to Maria, “There’s a time for us…” apparently it’s right now.
Of all the movies in all the world this one has sentimental meaning to me. Tapping into my memory bank of emotion, as a young woman the passionate soundtrack of the 1961 Oscar-winning film with Natalie Wood filled my childhood home. My mother starred as Maria in High school and later I starred as her, too. Sadly, the soundtrack’s ‘Maria’ was my chosen theme for my mother’s died-too-soon funeral. So while I long anticipated this Steven Spielberg version, I had ambivalence and a lot of angst.
But rest assured it is pure perfection.
On every level Spielberg captures the pulse-racing magnificence of young love, the liveliness, the subtlety of unsettled souls, the clashing of the Sharks and the Jets, the exhilarating kiss of Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) and the powerful close body shots (unlike the 1961 original.) Even the Jets dance differently than the Sharks instead of in sync. The colors explode on the big screen like the grandeur of Costa Rican birds at sunrise.
This is a gorgeous film by the master. It’s a joy to see Spielberg make this this late in his career. Bravo. And it’s equally gratifying to see Rita Moreno make an appearance as Valentina. It’s just a shame that Spielberg’s stunning adaptation of the Broadway show (some sixty-four years ago) had to be released the year of COVID at a time when movie theaters are empty. Add in the fact that its intended audience is the baby-boomer afraid to GO to the theatre, and it turns into the glorious film that slipped away. But I skipped all the way from the theatre to the car singing “I feel pretty.”