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A Time for Us-Film Review
West Side Story Redux
When I first heard there would be a remake of the 1961 West Side Story my first thought was “Why?” The original film, based on a Broadway musical was exceptional. But the execution of the gang content was outdated then, and it certainly is today. The script for this film was in production in 2014 and it was shot in 2019, prior to a worldwide pandemic and the death of Stephen Sondheim.
Mike Jones, in his article on Screenrant.com quotes Stephen Spielberg as follows: “I have been challenged by what would be the right musical to take on. And I could never forget my childhood. I was 10 years old when I first listened to the West Side Story album, and it never went away. I’ve been able to fulfill that dream and keep that promise that I made to myself: You must make West Side Story. Divisions between un-likeminded people is as old as time itself. And the divisions between the Sharks and the Jets in 1957, which inspired the musical, were profound. But not as divided as we find ourselves today. It turned out in the middle of the development of the script, things widened, which I think in a sense, sadly, made the story of those racial divides — not just territorial divides — more relevant to today’s audience than perhaps it even was in 1957.” Screenrant.com
