Deborah Ross

Why? Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story reviewed

What wonders has the director brought to a film that was great and beautiful in the first instance? Not many

Impressive but without the intimacy or rawness of the original: Ariana DeBose as Anita in Spielberg’s West Side Story. Credit: Photo: Niko Tavernise. © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 
issue 11 December 2021

When you first hear that a remake of West Side Story is on the cards, it’s: God, why? Why would anyone look at West Side Story, which won ten Oscars in 1961, and think: that needs doing again? Who would do that? Steven Spielberg, that’s who, and as it had garnered mostly five-star reviews before I’d had a chance to watch, the question became: how? What wonders might he have brought to a film that was great and beautiful in the first instance? Not much.

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