Saw It

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I've just returned from a 6:15 pm show of This Is It, and I need to split in 20 minutes for a Werner Herzog interview at the Soho Grand. But I can at least say how startled I was by how enjoyable the Jackson doc was. I just love listening to those familiar catchy tunes all amped up with great bass tones, and watching Jackson and the team perform some pretty sharp dance moves -- it's almost pure pleasure. Almost, I say.

Because if you do any thinking at all about the back-story -- why the "This Is It" tour was launched, why Jackson didn't tour for years, why he looks like Skeletor -- it all starts to feel a little strained. A diversion. A piece of a story without the full story. A sell job that doesn't fully work. But if you can turn your brain off, it really isn't that bad. You could do a lot worse for your $12.50. (Yes, that's what I paid at the Chelsea Clearview.) And I came away with renewed respect for Jackson's perfectionism and obvious determination to deliver like never before. He looks like hell here and there, but then he looked awful for years. The last time he looked semi-human was in the early '90s.

I love this paragraph from David Edelstein's New York review: "Perhaps if he had pulled this concert series off, he might have been able to leave that young Michael behind and move in a new direction...reinvent himself...maybe alongside John Lennon if Mark David Chapman had misfired...and Buddy Holly on back-up guitar if his plane hadn't crashed, and...oh, what's the use? He was a mess and destined to self-destruct.

"When he held forth onscreen in a prologue to that song about the danger to the Earth ('I love the planet ... I love trees ... What have we done to the world?'), all I could think was, 'What have you done to your own natural state?' In the name of evolution, this beautiful African-American boy turned himself into a whey-faced ghoul with a nose whittled down to cartilage. Maybe in the end he displaced his horror at his own self-mutilation onto Mother Nature."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 28, 2009 at 4:56 PM

comment #1

DeeZee says ...

"You could do a lot worse for your $12.50. (Yes, that's what I paid at the Chelsea Clearview.)"

They went up to $13 @ the Grove.

Posted by DeeZee at October 28, 2009 5:46 PM

comment #2

Kristopher Tapley says ...

Re: the Edelstein graph. What a pompous assemblage of words.

Posted by Kristopher Tapley at October 28, 2009 6:06 PM

comment #3

actionman says ...

homeboy was a pedophile. no thank you.

Posted by actionman at October 28, 2009 7:02 PM

comment #4

lazarus says ...

Edelstein's right on the money. The irony of a message about appreciating and respecting the world around you coming from one of the most insular, vain celebrities to ever walk the planet is some pretty thick stuff.

And Tapley, I'm sure you're well aware that it's possible for someone to be pompous AND right.

Posted by lazarus at October 28, 2009 7:37 PM

comment #5

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Well that was certainly an unexpected reaction, Wells!

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at October 28, 2009 7:48 PM

comment #6

Ray says ...

Jackson seemed much better than I was expecting - he actually sang most of this live, and he managed to dance fairly well. But this film is just about as empty as any of the spectacles he has put on in the past. Couldn't we have a little depth in the wake of his depth??

http://therecshow.com/2125/review-this-is-it/

Posted by Ray at October 28, 2009 8:01 PM

comment #7

DeeZee says ...

Ebert gave "It" and An Education 4 stars.

Posted by DeeZee at October 28, 2009 10:08 PM

comment #8

Renfield says ...

Ebert is says, "What is left is this extraordinary documentary..."

The question that I'm sure is going to come up in next few months is: Is this really a documentary?

My opinion: This is just compiled footage from something that wasn't supposed to see the light of day (and would've been a DVD extra, at best) mixed with a few talking heads.

Iif he hadn't died, we would not have a film. We would've had a DVD extra, at best.

I'm a little torn about this.

Opinions?

Posted by Renfield at October 29, 2009 12:37 AM

comment #9

Floyd Thursby says ...

But what would Herzog think of it?

Posted by Floyd Thursby at October 29, 2009 4:45 AM

comment #10

Ray says ...

@ Renfield - No, it's not a documentary, and Ebert is wrong to call it that. A documentary probes a subject from an angle, and provides supporting evidence through the investigation. This is merely a bunch of rehearsal footage strung together.

In Hollywood vernacular, this is correctly called a "money grab." It is out in theaters to collect a large sum of cash worldwide in order to offset losses.

That said, I thought it was surprising that Jackson comes off in it so well. He sings live, dances nimbly, and has only one or two "wacko" moments throughout.

The movie is basically just like Jackson's entire career: an artificial creation surrounding a true nugget of tremendous talent. But it is not a documentary.

Posted by Ray at October 29, 2009 5:08 AM

comment #11

Ponderer says ...

"No, it's not a documentary, and Ebert is wrong to call it that. A documentary probes a subject from an angle, and provides supporting evidence through the investigation. This is merely a bunch of rehearsal footage strung together."

I appreciate your attempt to clarify what qualifies as a documentary, but I agree with the WIkipedia definition which is far more nebulous and subjective:

"Documentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality.... Documentary, as it applies here, works to identify a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries."

Posted by Ponderer at October 29, 2009 7:20 AM

comment #12

Chicago48 says ...

I haven't seen it, hopefully I can before it leaves the theatres. But what I have seen, yes, he was emaciated and very thin but one thing you have to admire: He was a hard worker (so much so he couldn't sleep), he loved the stage, and he was a perfectionist and consummate musician. He wrote or co-wrote (and stole) a lot of his songs....since being a child singing star, he was very versed in the music business. But self-destructive.

Posted by Chicago48 at October 29, 2009 9:21 AM

comment #13

Michael says ...

@Renfield - I agree, this film was definitely not a documentary. At best, this should have been given a release on VH1 or something, but it really doesn't work as a "concert" film, b/c there was no concert. And a documentary has intent behind the making of it, either to tell a story or to prove a point,etc. showing real live footage. The camera crews were just filming the process of putting on the show and rehearsing for the actual concerts, for Michael and the other producers of the show to review. This whole situation just felt wrong, like it wasn't what Michael Jackson would have wanted. I loved seeing him perform, but I knew it wasn't at his best (because no one performs at their best unless there is an audience to watch them.) So I agree with you totally, this was never meant to be seen as a documentary, and like you said, it probably wouldn't have ever been seen if he hadn't have died. Which is a shame b/c while watching the movie it made me even more sad that I would never be able to see him perform live for real (even if I would never have been able to afford a ticket to one of his concerts anyway.)

Posted by Michael at October 29, 2009 2:08 PM

comment #14