For this one, I decided to watch West Side Story. I feel this is a movie so many people have watched yet somehow I never have, I figured it was time. This movie is a musical which in short is about two gangs, the Sharks and the Jets engaged in a turf war in New York. One of these gangs, the Sharks, is from Puerto Rico and just moved to town. The rivalry between them is already too much to handle and things get even more complicated when one of the Jets falls fro the leaders of the Sharks’ sister.

                   Obviously being that this is a musical, the music is extremely important. But they really brought it to the top. I loved how well not only the dance moves but the camera movements went with the beats. There really wasn’t anything special about the camera shots but being the time period it was shot in (late 50s early 60s) what do you expect? Especially in the beginning with the snapping, the camera either cut to a new angle or zoomed out to show the next person, all perfectly in time. The lighting was also nothing spectacular and seemed pretty standard, that isn’t saying it’s bad there just isn’t really anything worth noting. Other than the scene I liked where it was pretty much black with lights on Tony and Maria with small blue, red, and green lights in the background.

                 This feels like more of a side note but I loved the set, the vibe just went so well and there were some pretty cool shots due to the setting. The acting was slightly over the top but I am not knocking it for that, that’s pretty much what comes with doing a very theatrical piece. What I loved about this movie was the fact that the first twenty minutes of it really didn’t have any dialogue. There were a few words here and there but other than that it was entirely comprised of music, dancing, and facial expressions telling the story. Another part I really enjoyed was the way the shot was edited to blur everyone out when Tony and Maria first see each other. I also thought it was very cool to include the aspect, where earlier in the film it would play instrumental versions of songs to come later. Almost like they’ve heard of foreshadowing..?? I was slightly confused with the very beginning where they played a lot of instrumental versions of the songs with colors slowly fading to the next with lines along the upper half of the screen (that later lined up with the city buildings) but still, it went on for so long and I think could have been cut down.

                   Overall I think because it is just one of those classics that I didn’t even realize gets referenced so often, I would recommend it. I believe it does hit only to a certain crowd thought and I can see quite a few people not enjoying this movie. At the beginning where I wasn’t really into it yet and wasn’t paying attention, I was pretty lukewarm on it. I am not sure if this is due to the fact that I wasn’t paying attention or because the movie didn’t quite pick up until later. It wasn’t until close to an hour into the movie that I finally got interested and really started enjoying it and seeing how good it is. Having seen the entire movie now I would definitely recommend it, but really only to the right audience.

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