This Is It
Where does one begin to sum up the surreal existence of Michael Jackson? Director/Choreographer Kenny Ortega starts with his dancers, whose personal and professional lives have been changed forever simply being on that stage, auditioning for the opportunity to go on what would have been Mr. Jackson’s farewell tour.
The enormous production is enough to force the cliché expression, “awesome spectacle,” out of me. The titles say, “For the fans,” suggesting this is not a revealing biography of the man (Martin Bashir’s piece a few years ago comes to mind), but a conscientious assemblage of rehearsal footage—a concert’s worth of material—demonstrating Michael Jackson’s humor, perfectionism, kindness and, of course, his unbounded creativity. But the film is very light on the other side of expressive genius. When does Michael get bent out of shape? Maybe I’m overlooking the obvious. Maybe because he’s Michael Jackson, he doesn’t have to. Nobody’s going to tell him, “No.”
In that regard, Mr. Ortega is an astonishingly good majordomo. When he wants to suggest another path, he persuades rather than insists, and says, “Thank you, sir,” for following through. What Michael can’t articulate to his performers and technicians, Mr. Ortega translates. Yet unlike another stratospheric personality, Madonna, Mr. Jackson isn’t one to blindly delegate. He’s intimately involved in the creative decisions of all aspects of production. He’s hand-picked the most qualified candidates—guitarist Orianthi Panagaris, who started playing at age six, dancer David “Elsewhere” Bernal whose TV commercial work and appearances at Kollaboration, a Korean-American talent show, have gained him notoriety across the internet. Also present is veteran session drummer Jonathan Moffett, who has toured with Madonna and Elton John, among numerous others.
But that kind of talent is what money can buy. What abilities Michael Jackson possesses within are immeasurable. Meticulous to no end, he knows every step, every verse, every flourish with pitch-perfect intonation. Noting that fans want to hear exactly what’s on the record, he expects the same of himself and his performers.
Perhaps the closest we’ve come to seeing the breadth of his ingenuity was not in the bar-raising video for “Thriller” but in the extended version of “Smooth Criminal.” While the film reveals a sequence completed for the tour, inserting a fedora-sporting Jackson into scenes with Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, absent is the “anti-gravity” lean that astonished and puzzled many—the concert version made possible by a hinged cuff design conceived by Mr. Jackson. Consider also the intricate lyric, written by him, “So they came into the outway/It was Sunday, what a black day. Mouth to mouth resuscitation/selling heartbeats, intimidations.” These aren’t the marks of merely a pop artist. Behind the flash pots and sequins is the culmination of 45 years of experience.
Would it not have been more forthright to do a documentary equal in praise and criticism? Perhaps. I wouldn’t look to this film for details of Michael Jackson’s personal affairs. Like Federico Fellini, he has created a different reality he wants the world to see, on stage. Outside his naïveté in matters of the environment and ecology—a digression which, if excluded, could have easily trimmed ten minutes at the film’s slowest point—he wants people to remember something positive rather than the poor kid from Gary, Indiana, whose disciplinarian father made his life hell if he delivered anything less than perfection. In that regard, the film serves die-hard fans well, and shows others the only Michael Jackson the world has ever known. Performing since the age of five, it’s not likely Michael Jackson ever knew any other world, either.
Michael Jackson’s This Is It • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 • Running Time: 112 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images. • Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing