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With negative aspects of his life left out, legend's talent takes center stage in 'This Is It'
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
POSTED: 11:40 a.m. EDT, Oct 28, 2009
Purity is not a word I often associate with Michael Jackson. But it came to mind more than once Tuesday night as I watched the documentary This Is It.
The film about Jackson's preparations for what would have been his farewell tour has a purity and a joy, at many points as Jackson steps from behind the carefully constructed and controlled facades he has had for years to sing and dance, unfettered, unpressured, with a delight and a skill that are a marvel to behold.
It was in those pure moments that I put aside, at least briefly, all my concerns about Jackson as a person and settled in to admire the performer. Here was someone who at various points was Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire and Jimi Hendrix, but was above all else Michael, a powerful stage presence, a memorable vocalist — if not the king of pop, then at least a legend.
As has been reported, the film has excised any footage which might reflect badly on Jackson. Remaining are promises, both in his stagecraft and in the video segments prepared for the concerts, of an extraordinary, enormous show covering his career from his Jackson 5 days through his great solo hits.
He had assembled an awesome band and formidable dancers to support him onstage, and director Kenny Ortega to oversee the entire enterprise. Yet Jackson himself is also evident as someone who watched over every detail of the stage production, and whose exacting individual standards extended to instrumental tempos, individual hand gestures and where a light should hit the stage.
Sometimes his instructions are not immediately clear, as when he talks about The Way You Make Me Feel having to ''simmer.'' Other times they are crystal: ''I want it the way I wrote it.''
Although he offers the spotlight to others at times, and punctuates his comments with gentle refrains of ''God bless you,'' he is still the man in charge — and Ortega invariably waits for Jackson's approval, or accepts the singer's proposals for revision.
Jackson's attention to the production is impressive but it is also cautionary. Because it is his taking care, and his long history of trying to control how he is seen, that give pause to my wishing that this tour could have happened, and that I could have been at one of the concerts.
As much as I hungered for one of those concerts at many points during This Is It, I fear that Michael would have taken out, or overpolished, those moments onstage when he simply cuts loose — for instance on Billie Jean, the film's climax.
To be sure, the film underscores that Jackson set out on this tour to prove what a great, unstoppable entertainer he could be — that he could still dip deep into his catalog and present old gems in fresh and vital ways. This was Michael as Frank Sinatra, in a way, confident and certain, and mature in both his abilities and his understanding of his gifts.
As weird as Jackson looks, especially in the occasional close up, when he strode on the stage, you could forget the weirdness because the mastery is so enormous. That's especially evident when the film cuts brilliantly between different rehearsals, or splits the screen for multiple images of Jackson performing.
Still, there's that fear that his need for control would have overwhelmed his more pure love of music, and turned the shows into something grand but mechanical.
So it is that I prefer these rehearsals we have to the concert that might have been. Yes, they are rehearsals, raw when Jackson is still working out movements, subject to technical missteps. (Just as the audience anticipates I Want You Back, it goes awry because the sound in Jackson's ear piece is too loud.) Yes, there have been times when he was better than here; I will still take the reunited Jacksons' I'll Be There in Motown 25 over the version being worked out here.
Still, in this movie, we have a spectacular view of a Michael Jackson who was little seen in his final years — motivated, focused, even unguarded. And we get a sense of tragedy not only because he is dead but because there was so much greatness obscured even when he was alive.
Thinking once more about This Is It, I dreamed not only of Michael Jackson back onstage, but on a bare stage, with a microphone, a powerful band and his songbook, reaching into each tune for the happiness we see here when it's just a matter of Jackson and a song.
The stagecraft for these concerts is impressive. But it would have been nothing without Jackson offering us his heart.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com (where this review first appeared in a somewhat different form), on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Documentary: This Is It
Featuring: Michael Jackson
Directed by: Kenny Ortega
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rating: PG (some suggestive choreography and scary images)
Theaters: Carnation Cinema, Cinemark Aurora 10, Garrettsville Cinemas, Hickory Ridge Cinema 8, Hudson Cinema 10, Huntington Street Cinema 16, Independence 10, Interstate Park Cinemas 18, Kent Plaza Theatre, Lake Cinemas 8, Macedonia Cinemark 15, Massillon 12, Montrose 12, Shaker Square Cinemas, Tinseltown USA, Tower City Cinemas, Valley View 24, Wooster Movies 10
3 1/2 stars
Purity is not a word I often associate with Michael Jackson. But it came to mind more than once Tuesday night as I watched the documentary This Is It.
The film about Jackson's preparations for what would have been his farewell tour has a purity and a joy, at many points as Jackson steps from behind the carefully constructed and controlled facades he has had for years to sing and dance, unfettered, unpressured, with a delight and a skill that are a marvel to behold.
It was in those pure moments that I put aside, at least briefly, all my concerns about Jackson as a person and settled in to admire the performer. Here was someone who at various points was Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire and Jimi Hendrix, but was above all else Michael, a powerful stage presence, a memorable vocalist — if not the king of pop, then at least a legend.
As has been reported, the film has excised any footage which might reflect badly on Jackson. Remaining are promises, both in his stagecraft and in the video segments prepared for the concerts, of an extraordinary, enormous show covering his career from his Jackson 5 days through his great solo hits.
He had assembled an awesome band and formidable dancers to support him onstage, and director Kenny Ortega to oversee the entire enterprise. Yet Jackson himself is also evident as someone who watched over every detail of the stage production, and whose exacting individual standards extended to instrumental tempos, individual hand gestures and where a light should hit the stage.
Sometimes his instructions are not immediately clear, as when he talks about The Way You Make Me Feel having to ''simmer.'' Other times they are crystal: ''I want it the way I wrote it.''
Although he offers the spotlight to others at times, and punctuates his comments with gentle refrains of ''God bless you,'' he is still the man in charge — and Ortega invariably waits for Jackson's approval, or accepts the singer's proposals for revision.
Jackson's attention to the production is impressive but it is also cautionary. Because it is his taking care, and his long history of trying to control how he is seen, that give pause to my wishing that this tour could have happened, and that I could have been at one of the concerts.
As much as I hungered for one of those concerts at many points during This Is It, I fear that Michael would have taken out, or overpolished, those moments onstage when he simply cuts loose — for instance on Billie Jean, the film's climax.
To be sure, the film underscores that Jackson set out on this tour to prove what a great, unstoppable entertainer he could be — that he could still dip deep into his catalog and present old gems in fresh and vital ways. This was Michael as Frank Sinatra, in a way, confident and certain, and mature in both his abilities and his understanding of his gifts.
As weird as Jackson looks, especially in the occasional close up, when he strode on the stage, you could forget the weirdness because the mastery is so enormous. That's especially evident when the film cuts brilliantly between different rehearsals, or splits the screen for multiple images of Jackson performing.
Still, there's that fear that his need for control would have overwhelmed his more pure love of music, and turned the shows into something grand but mechanical.
So it is that I prefer these rehearsals we have to the concert that might have been. Yes, they are rehearsals, raw when Jackson is still working out movements, subject to technical missteps. (Just as the audience anticipates I Want You Back, it goes awry because the sound in Jackson's ear piece is too loud.) Yes, there have been times when he was better than here; I will still take the reunited Jacksons' I'll Be There in Motown 25 over the version being worked out here.
Still, in this movie, we have a spectacular view of a Michael Jackson who was little seen in his final years — motivated, focused, even unguarded. And we get a sense of tragedy not only because he is dead but because there was so much greatness obscured even when he was alive.
Thinking once more about This Is It, I dreamed not only of Michael Jackson back onstage, but on a bare stage, with a microphone, a powerful band and his songbook, reaching into each tune for the happiness we see here when it's just a matter of Jackson and a song.
The stagecraft for these concerts is impressive. But it would have been nothing without Jackson offering us his heart.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com (where this review first appeared in a somewhat different form), on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Documentary: This Is It
Featuring: Michael Jackson
Directed by: Kenny Ortega
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rating: PG (some suggestive choreography and scary images)
Theaters: Carnation Cinema, Cinemark Aurora 10, Garrettsville Cinemas, Hickory Ridge Cinema 8, Hudson Cinema 10, Huntington Street Cinema 16, Independence 10, Interstate Park Cinemas 18, Kent Plaza Theatre, Lake Cinemas 8, Macedonia Cinemark 15, Massillon 12, Montrose 12, Shaker Square Cinemas, Tinseltown USA, Tower City Cinemas, Valley View 24, Wooster Movies 10
3 1/2 stars
Comments
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Richfield, OH
Posted 12:05 PM, 10/28/2009
Did they cover his love for little boys in the movie?
Akron, OH
Posted 12:37 PM, 10/28/2009
Does anyone know the running time is for this movie?
I'm curious if it is longer or shorter than other ones from the 'live in concert' genre.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 02:29 PM, 10/28/2009
Reagan - No, because if they went there they would have to talk about money-grubbing parents who had no problem letting their kids sleep over with a strange man.
new york, ny
Posted 03:41 PM, 10/28/2009
I was lucky enough to be able to see a special screening here in NYC and have to say that even if you had problems with his lifestyle or whatever else about this wonderful performer, you still need to see this magnificent documentary. This man was truly an artist beyond all others.After hearing all the rumors about his health just prior to his death, I was amazed at how great he performed and just how personable he was with everyone around him. It's just a shame that some will always take the low road and try to focus on negativity.
new york, ny
Posted 04:01 PM, 10/28/2009
Overtaxed; just shy of 2 hours and about 15 songs/dance routines .
new york, ny
Posted 04:03 PM, 10/28/2009
Oprah is doing a special today on this documentary
Canton, OH
Posted 04:34 PM, 10/28/2009
rated PG - suggestive choreography and scary images - aren't all images of Michael scary???
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 04:51 PM, 10/28/2009
I just want his Dad and ignorant brothers to go away. Janet and Rebe seem normal. Kathryn is so-so.
akron, oh
Posted 02:19 PM, 10/30/2009
I truely feel sorry for his kids!!! What a messed up family. Now that he is dead, everyone including his family wants his money!!!!
Canton, OH
Posted 12:22 AM, 11/01/2009
yawn. . .
East Meadow, NY
Posted 10:18 AM, 11/03/2009
A good review of the movie, if somewhat conflicted about the man. Further research beyond tabloid TV and tabloid print reports will help dispell some of the confusion about Michael Jackson. Start with the YouTube Michael Jackson Channel, then Amazon. The real man is there in many places. Millions of people all over the world loved Michael Jackson, not blindly, but by seeing him for who he really was, just as we want to be seen for ourselves.
As for MJ looking weird or being weird. Not everyone agrees with that opinion. As for me, there are plenty of examples of weird looking and acting entertainers that I've seen: Osbourne, Lee, Tyler, Jagger, George Clinton, and many more.
As for MJ's love for little boys. Yes, MJ loved children both boys and girls and though this movie doesn't cover his efforts to help children, the young entertainers working with him are being taught by the master and being paid. They are very aware of the great opportunity and grateful. Priceless!
Rich, your "longing," your "dreaming" are quite revealing. Honestly, once you get past the lies that are responsible for "obscuring" our view of MJ for the last decade, and get over being angry to have been so cheated, you too will be refreshed.
East Meadow, NY
Posted 10:35 AM, 11/03/2009
By the way, actually when sleeping at someone else's home, there is safety in numbers, in the children not being isolated. Besides children at sleepovers like to bunch up together and resist going to sleep until they exhaust themselves playing around. A trusted adult sleeping nearby is more protection than anything else. Michael did it as a concession to the children who visited Neverland and who wanted to be in his presence at all times if possible (like all the people that chased him around evrywhere he went), as his former wife, Lisa Marie, confirmed. Michael Jackson, being a principled man in real life, one that respected his mother, respected women, respected God's creation, and loved children for their innocence (study his life and you'll see) did not betray those principles, though he was as flawed a human being as any of us.
