WEST SIDE STORY

Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist, David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Brian d’Arcy James, Corey Stoll

The combination of Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner (Lincoln) working with the classic musical by Steven Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, and Arthur Laurents comes with massive expectations knowing the caliber of these creative geniuses. Let me reassure you that their adaptation of West Side Story is potent and more relevant than ever before. As the snaps and percussion of Leonard Bernstein’s score ring out, Spielberg opens the film in the rubble of what will become Lincoln Center. The local gang of White Americans known as the Jets, led by Riff, deface a mural of the Puerto Rico flag fueling their hatred of the local Puerto Rican gang known as the Sharks who are led by Bernardo. Their feud continues later on at the school dance, but it’s there though where Bernardo’s sister Maria and Tony, who’s a former Jet, meet and fall in love at first sight. Their affair may be strong, but it will test whether the Sharks and the Jets can ever come together and end their hatred for one another.

Here’s my review