A TRIBUTE TO AND PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST: a review of "Michael Jackson's This Is It"

In honor of the DVD release, here is my review, straight from my archives.

Originally written October 29, 2009

“MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT” Directed by Kenny Ortega
**** (4 stars)

“Michael Jackson has been a part of your life for your entire life.”

My Mother said those words to me the very afternoon the world heard that Michael Jackson had died. I cannot say enough how surreal that news was to receive. I was standing in the checkout line at a neighborhood grocery store and this gentleman behind me had just slowly hung up his cell phone and said out loud, possibly even just to himself, “Michael Jackson died?!” Even after having several months to process, the news still does not seem that real to me. With the new documentary/concert film/behind-the-scenes hybrid “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” lovingly compiled and directed by Jackson’s stage show co-director/collaborator Kenny Ortega, I have to admit that I was sufficiently fooled into thinking for a while that Jackson was still with us on this Earth, just waiting to unleash his newest creation. Throughout the film, you can feel his creative spirit had newfound laser focused clarity and building force. It seemed as if with this planned final concert series, Jackson was set to re-assert his position and prove for once and for all that he was one of the GREATEST entertainers of all time as well as a deeply complex artist in his own right. Based on the footage shown, Jackson’s fans would have easily remained enraptured. But, the skeptics, of which I was one, would have been put into their places and a new generation of fans would be born. This would have been one hell of a show!

It should be stated that this film goes beyond the superficial value of a puff-piece, solely designed to continue deifying Jackson for his fan base. This is also not a ghoulish affair or one that feels exploitative. It is not a film where mourning is present. This film is one of celebration—for the audience to celebrate the music and staggering talent this man has left behind for all of us and also, to celebrate the work, diligence, commitment and class that is present in the creative process itself. This film is a portrait of an artist at work and it is entirely fascinating to watch.

This film will quickly silence the voices who were whispering the idea that Jackson may have been too frail to perform. From what is shown, for nearly two hours, we see a man in complete and full command of his gifts and it is enlightening to see just how perceptive he was over every single detail of this new production. The film opens with a rehearsal of “Wanna Be Starting Something.” His voice sounds tentative and a little ragged with the beat but we can see he is most likely saving his voice for the actual performances. Jackson dances around the stage in a fashion that suggests that he is possibly trying out certain movements to see which will work best with the overall material. Yet, as the sequence carries onwards, we realize that Jackson is not just trying out movements. He is actually DIRECTING everything occurring behind him. Every twitch, swivel, arm, leg and hand motion, vocal grunt and hiccup is a command to his band, singers and squadron of dancers. Like James Brown and Prince, Jackson operates as a four star general. When a keyboardist questions Jackson over how he wants a particular section to be played, Jackson quickly answers, “I want it how I wrote it.” The instruction never sounds as if it is coming from a tyrannical taskmaster. Just firmly stated and encouraging as well.

Early in the film, the dancers are told that they are to act as “extensions” of Michael Jackson himself and it is clear, perhaps even moreso than ever, that the entire show is an extension of the man, his past achievements, his signposts to the future and overall hope for the world. The stage feels like Jackson’s playground and with this film, we are invited to re-visit old toys and see the new ones. All of the classic songs are here, played with a freshness and forceful vitality that elevates and transcends anything that would have been thought as nostalgic. We do not see a man resting on his past laurels and bringing the old tricks out for one last chance at adoration. Jackson is still probing. He is searching. He is reaching for something to create a rich, emotional experience for an audience and it certainly looks as if all of the proverbial stops had been pulled out. This is evidenced through many new-filmed sequences especially for the show that would have created a nearly interactive experience between stage and screen. The horror show of “Thriller” has been updated to include ghost brides and husbands to sail over the audience as 3D film technology showers all manner of creeps and corpses at you. There’s even a giant spider that hurls itself at the screen from which Jackson emerges on the stage without missing a moment. An epic re-invention of “Earth Song,” complete with gorgeously profound new film footage, is very moving indeed. And he even interacts with Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth for “Smooth Criminal.”

However, it is not all about flash and empty style. Most sequences are devoted to getting the music and choreography just right. Scenes of going over and over a keyboard pattern or working with the backup singers or encouraging his two lead guitarists, including a striking blond flamethrower named Orianthi, to swing for the fences. Hearing the music dissected and with the amazing clarity of the full performances is revelatory. Like the recently released Beatles remasters, it is an eye (and ear) opening experience to hear how complicated these well known songs are as musical compositions and the updated additions honor the original versions while also moving them forwards. I guess I never realized how sublime “Human Nature” really is. The aforementioned “Wanna be Starting Something” is even more aggressive. The new heavy funk coda to “Thriller” would make even Prince snap his neck to the rhythm! In fact, what was extremely touching was to see how the film and Jackson himself give so many participants the time to shine therefore making this film a tribute to them as well. Also enlightening and joyous to see were the moments when Jackson relinquished his own rehearsal restrictions and just let himself be carried away by the music, most notably a staggering solo dance set to only the tight drum pattern of “Billie Jean.” After schooling everyone in attendance, he muses softly that he thinks he may have found “a feel for this.” I laughed out loud in amazement at the understatement.

Near the film’s conclusion, the entire creative team bands together for some inspirational words from Jackson and Ortega and it was then, I was transported back to the present and realized that all of this work would never see the audience as intended as its creator left us too soon. “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” is paramount to Jackson’s deeply rich artistic legacy and the reality that he has inspired more people than we could every possibly know. From singers, songwriters and dancers and choreographers, certainly. But also, filmmakers, set designers, costume designers, digital artists and all in between. This film depicts the celebratory efforts to get it together and we can all bask in his energy with this tasteful and elegant elegy.

Throughout the film, I kept thinking about what my Mother had said to me the day Michael Jackson died. I grew up listening to the Jackson 5 at home and on cross country family car trips via 8-track tapes. I had seen them on three different occasions at the Mill Run Theater, which my memory tells me was a smallish venue complete with a large disco ball and the show was in the round. I remember the last time I saw them, before the act graduated to stadiums, as the entire audience danced their way out of the theater and into the night with “Shake Your Body Down To the Ground” as a communal soundtrack. I had completely adored the film version of “The Wiz,” I felt the earth shift from its’ natural axis while Jackson performed the moonwalk for the very first time on television and loved him as the world did during the entire “Thriller” experience. Then, beginning with “Bad,” I began to disengage as the music just didn’t reach me. And when the controversies, of which too much ink has been spilled, began to rise and rise and rise, I felt so confused and just sorrowful for him. The moment his death was announced, I couldn’t help but to begin to re-evaluate what he meant to me and I began to listen again—to favorites as well as the unfamiliar. I realized then that he was our modern day Icarus. Our greatest example of our “build-it-up-tear-it-down” culture and it just seemed fitting to honor what he gave to the world, which was the purity and bottomless joy of his art.

“This Is it” is a simple title with so many possible meanings. It is the announcement of a curtain call as well as an artistic line in the sand as Jackson had planned to continue recording. Yet it is also possibly a call to all of us to live our lives as richly as possible because each moment is all we have. We will never truly know what his life was like off stage—and frankly, I am not interested in the least. But, in this film, during his time when he had the opportunity, the passion and feverish drive to create, he did not in any way look like a man who was about to pass on. Yes, I realize that out of the 100 hours of reported footage, we are only graced with two of those hours but I feel that Director Kenny Ortega has given us a gift.

My mother was absolutely right. Michael Jackson has been a part of my life for my entire life…and he will remain here for the rest of my life.