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Challenge to Denver: represent for "This is It"
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(AP Photo/Sony Pictures)
Every generation loses something the previous one took for granted. On the way home in lovely Indian summer weather I took painful notice there we no children playing outside. No kids playing hopscotch, hide and go seek, or jumping double-dutch (I dare you to ask middle school kids what double-dutch is). Sure, the good folks at Wii will probably come out with Extreme Hopscotch for the Wii balance board next month, but the kids won’t know what real hopscotch is like.
That’s how I feel about the passing of Michael Jackson. Will the next generation know what a real entertainer was? Not a temper tantrum having, hotel trashing, sex tape on the internet rock star, but a real entertainer, right town to his sparkly socks.
The theater was bare, which was a disappointment. Have we already moved on? Doesn’t anybody care? The awful media habit of bombarding us with the same story from every aspect and angle certainly causes people to become desensitized. Had it already happened? Was Denver sick of hearing about Michael Jackson? The empty theater spoke volumes.
I purposely avoided other reviews and web chit chat about the movie, so I arrived with an open mind and no expectation. Shirt half tucked, wavy black hair cascading past his shoulders, Michael appeared on screen. It definitely felt like we were sneaking a preview of some unreleased backstage footage. The lighting was not for the cinema, but for the rehearsal of a live concert; too bright at times and too dim the rest of the time.
Michael cooed soothing directions his family of performers. Telling the band to “let it simmer” when ending a song or to let a note “bathe in the moonlight. ”He wore dark shades much of the film and I found myself wishing he would remove them. Moments few and far in between his glasses were off, giving full view of his face. I searched his skin, his lips, his nose, his hair, for the Michael of my memories. I couldn’t tell he was a 50 year old man. There were a few pieces of footage of Michael wearing orange pants where he doesn’t move as much, or perform any of the “wow” dance moves we expect. He moved like an old man on whatever day that was. Footage from various other days shows him gliding and shaking it right along side his dancers.
Michael chose an incredible group of dancers and musicians. Some video of their emotional interviews revealed young, talented people from all over the globe, living their dream of performing with Michael Jackson. One Australian man was brought to tears, explaining that he’d only heard about the auditions two days ago and hopped on a plane to be there. One male dancer actually performed a move so beautifully indescribable, I gasped at the same moment my husband went “whoa”, our mouths agape.
24 Year old Australian guitar prodigy Orianthi Panaganis, a compact blonde, is the love child of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. She rocked the guitar solo in “Beat It,” playing it just how the fans remember, but with impressive embellishments of her own. Michael saw huge promise in her. I trust, despite the cancellation of the biggest come back tour in history, the world will still see her light shine.
Judith Hill, the only female backup singer, does Siedah Garrett proud the duet, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” The California songstress’ breakout performance, ironically, was performing “Heal the World” at Michael’s memorial service in July.
Awesome video montages flow on a screen larger than your mind can calculate.
Seamless green screen effects complimented stage presence and were an extension of the music and the message. New video for “Thriller” made me wish I’d brought my 3D glasses. When calling about tickets, my first call was to the Colorado Center 9 Imax Theater on Colorado Boulevard and I-25. Surely, a grand event like this was debuting on the Imax screen. No, they were showing “Where the Wild Things Are.” I was a bit disgusted. So kids would rather see that than the last moments of Michael Jackson? Why wasn’t this made into an Imax movie? Is this a side effect of the rush to get it released? A rush of anger and questions rushed through me. Just as I plotted what to write on my picket sign, Michael went into his final performance of “Billie Jean.”
Alone onstage for the “Billie Jean” performance, the stage crew, dancers and other non vital staff collected at the foot of the stage and cheered Michael on. When he grabbed his crotch and thrust his pelvis into the air to that unmistakable beat, I noticed the male onlookers did also, as if saying yes, Michael, we concur.
Like Hawaiians use “aloha” for hello, good morning, goodbye and good journey, Michael’s humble outpourings of thank you, you’re too kind and everything else said at concerts all translated into one phrase: “God bless you.” I felt whispers of Michael, the Jehovah’s Witness, every time he said it.
This movie is like being hypnotized while riding the number 15 Colfax bus. Just when you are fully steeped into the escape, totally absorbed in the lights, the video, the man and the moves…the bus driver jerks on the brakes and you are jolted back into existence. The movie goes from full on dancers, video, props and what the audience would have seen, then snatches the audience into half lit sound checks, stage redirection and Michael not getting through the first verses of a Jackson 5 song because of earpiece issues.
When I found myself criticizing this film, I stopped. I had to constantly remind myself this was not video of actual concert footage. This was piecemeal scraps of his last days lovingly produced so that we, his fans could get one last look, one last swoon, one last palpitation. At the time of this writing, the film has been extended through Thanksgiving. You may think you have plenty of time. Perhaps you avoided his televised memorial service as I did and are not ready to say goodbye. Whatever your feelings are, this moment won’t come again. See this movie in a theater, with high quality surround sound next to someone you love, because, this is all we have of Michael.
This is it.
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