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A week ago I sat in the airy confines of the Vogelstein Center of Drama and Film’s screening room for my National Indian Cinema class. The professor dimmed the lights to show a clip from Mahakaal, an early ’90s Hindi rip-off of Nightmare on Elm Street (the villain even had spindly steel fingers.) On screen, soon-to-be-slaughtered teenagers were sitting down for refreshments in a small café, chattering away feverishly in Hindi.
And then came something unexpected: Out popped the café’s owner, an Indian doppelganger of Michael Jackson, complete with the crazy ‘do and Billy Jean dance moves. He began doing a gratuitous impersonation of the King of Pop in a lampoon milked for all it was worth. It was a bizarre tribute, but nothing else I’ve seen comes close to epitomizing the global nature of Jackson’s legacy.
Perhaps it is because Jackson is such a globalized icon that the movie Michael Jackson’s This is It is already on its way to breaking international box office records after only a single weekend. The documentary showing the preperations for Jackson’s comback concert has grossed over $100 million worldwide, making it the most commercially successful concert movie of all time. Why is it such a smash? As I said, the King of Pop has universal appeal: Jackson’s reign extended into Bollywood and beyond. But the movie has also mucked up a lot of controversy. Jackson’s family has called it blatant exploitation of the singer’s death, fans have called it a misleading representation of his health in his final days, and some conspiracy theorists claim that a body-double for the pop star was used during the filming. The brouhaha is like a marketing campaign all by itself.
It’s true that the movie commercializes the highly publicized demise of Jackson to an extent, if for no other reason than it hit theaters three months after his death. But all other controversy aside, this is a very flattering tribute to the man. Jackson comes across as someone who is just a really nice guy, when it comes down to it. True, he is also a diva and a weirdo. The film is inundated with Jackson’s foibles and odd methods of articulation:
“It feels like someone’s stuffed a fist in my ear.”
“Do you mean the volume is too loud, Michael?”
“Yes.”
But this is almost endearing in a way, and even if he is a diva, he’s too gosh-darn sweet for it to matter. And as a musician, he is masterful. I am not a fan of Jackson’s music, but the songs in Michael Jackson’s This is It are some of the best parts of the movie. The man is an incredible entertainer. The moonwalking, the strutting, the simpering falsetto, the razor-sharp choreography, the pyrotechnics, the instrumentals: It’s an extravaganza, and what you see onscreen are only rehearsals.
Jackson may have been a product of the ’80s, but the concert preparation shows that Jackson also had 21st century savvy. The effects, such as a huge animatronic spider out of which Jackson emerges to sing “Thriller,” rocked my socks off. And the videos that play on the venue’s jumbotron to complement his songs are pretty mindblowing too. In the video that introduces “Smooth Criminal,” Jackson is seamlessly integrated into an old Bogart film noir movie. And for “Speechless,” a Lord of the Rings-sized army of dancers break it down in militaristic uniforms. If Jackson hadn’t died three week’s before opening night, this would have been a once-in-a-lifetime concert.
Michael Jackson’s This Is It certainly does what it can to make you feel like you’ve scored seats to a Jackson concert. As I walked away from the box office after buying my ticket, the theater employee shouted after me, “Don’t you want your lanyard?” You heard right: All attendees get a commemorative lanyard reminiscent of a backstage-pass. Sweet.
The film itself was shot with a hand-held camera from an angle that makes you feel like you’re in the front row yourself. And even though there are some talking head interviews that serve as bridges between songs, there is no voiceover or overarching narration. The movie is vaguely cinéma vérité in that it simply shows Jackson doing his thing. It feels very organic and very real.
The bottom line is, do you want to dish out $10 to see a Jackson concert? “Yes” is the obvious answer if you’re a fan, and even if you’re not this might be worthwhile to rent a few months down the line. And for the next best thing, there’s always a good old-fashioned Bollywood impersonators to tide us over.
—Erik Lorenzsonn ’12 is writing a bi-weekly column on movies and their meanings. He is the Arts Editor.
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