It seems that the world has lost a hell of gig. Whatever the cynicism that could accommodate the Ave Maria pieces on film “This Is It” – which can be called the first concert film ever test – which is strange but oddly alluring film that does is capture one of the great entertainers of pop culture in the feverish grip of pure creativity.
The display is presented to artists, musicians, choreographers, members of the crew and artisans but laser focus of the film is in Jackson. You understand what it takes to reach those dizzy heights of entertainment – and perhaps why he decided a decade away.
After the 17 simultaneous premieres Tuesday, the film will be released in over 3,400 domestic screens, along with 96 in Imax theaters, and another 27 internationally to one of two runs per week. Running will be expanded if demand is there. The demand will be there. (The Columbia release took in $ 2.2 million projected Tuesday night in North America.)
If someone just dropped in from Mars, “This Is It” would be 50 years old final comeback of Michael Jackson, a planned execution of 50 concerts sold that were to take place at the O2 Arena in London during the summer – all of which came to a sudden and tragic end with the death of the performer on June 25.
Kenny Ortega, the show’s director, has created this film to 120 hours of digital video – for which Sony paid 60 million U.S. dollars – taken during rehearsals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles between March and June this year, along with auditions at the Nokia Theater and video clips filmed at the Sony lot.
What is surprising is the completely professional way, even polished, this sequence. All it was intended – a making-of doc to accompany the concert on DVD, or TV show? These are not images of detainees in the cell phones of the crew. Interviews with actors, musicians and production staff further noted the clear intention to publish this material.
In any case, how fascinating it is difficult to see a huge concert take shape. Make no mistake, this is a show for a stadium with a dazzling staging of mixed media. One can even imagine a music critic in London smoking on numbers that do not rely on over-large catalog of songs from Jackson to deliver the goods.
Moreover, this production may have been just right in scale for the O2 Arena. Dancers pop up through trap doors in elevators operating at the “speed toaster.” A bulldozer rumbles on stage for a number of “green” about saving the rainforests.
Shooting in front of a green screen Sony, 11 dancers are transformed into 11 million. Jackson blends the old, black, white film sequences and therefore can admire Rita Hayworth wiggling in front of an orchestra and dance around bullets shot by Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.
Split screens transmit Jackson, almost always wearing sunglasses, carrying the same number on different days with wardrobes and approaches. There is no doubt that the director is here. Jackson is in complete control. Ortega watches over the production, while Jackson leads each moment on stage. Their addresses are almost poetic. On the rate of a number, it instructs, “It’s like you’re dragging yourself out of bed.” On another occasion, he says, “It has to simmer.
The audience at the premiere of Nokia does not seem to know how to react to test sequences. He laughed nervously to stray signals and breaks. To be clear: No one should expect a concert film. Jackson is clearly the conservation of energy, slowing the movements of dance and vocal intensity. He is looking for his concert, the shape of a marble sculpture chisel away to reveal a statue.
Interestingly, two of his best songs “Billie Jean” and “Man in the Mirror,” seems to be simply represented. Then again, maybe pictures Ortega is showing early, before the addition of dancers and singers. There is no way of knowing.
The frustration that – beyond the largest one, which prevented a tragedy that this concert takes place – is not knowing what you’re looking at. Where are Jackson and his conspirators at one point in the creative process? The film tries to be a concert film, without having the actual images. So when everything comes to an end, are released to the public.
“This Is It” is not a “sacred document” as Ortega said to the crowd of Nokia. But it is fascinating. Displays a composer and performer who knows his material intimately. While not always true what he wants, he knows immediately when it arrives. At one point, Ortega asked his star will signal how determined the stage. Jackson pauses and then says, “I feel that.”
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