By Faris Tanyos for KDRV
 
January 28, 2010
 
Grade: A
 
"Life is hard, right? And I've been kind of searching for something to shake me up a little bit, and give me a kind of meaning, to believe in something, and this is it."
 
- Backup Dancer for Michael Jackson
 
"Where have all these people been for the last 25 years? He's been the object of ridicule almost nonstop for two decades. Over this entire period, if Michael Jackson came up in conversation... it was just some kind of criticism of him in general. And now, after he dies, I understand people saying great things about him... he was an iconic, brilliant musician.
 
"What I think is weird, all these people now, creating this false narrative about their relationship to his music... You go on Facebook now, and you just see all these people talking about how Thriller was the soundtrack to their life, and they remember watching the Smooth Criminal video. How come no one has mentioned this for a decade? It's almost as though they watch television, and they see that this is sort of a big moment, and they really want to feel as though they were a part of that experience."
 
- Chuck Klosterman, speaking to Columnist Bill Simmons in June of last year.
 
The perception of public perception is a slippery slope.
 
It's a bully, dangerous and maniacally destructive; it seeps, unwillingly into the subconscious...
 
There's never a short supply of water cooler verdicts, delivered with off-the-cuff-boldness. We vow to wait for all the facts to come in. But often they don't. We get restless and bored. We're forced to cobble together events, to fill in the gaps for ourselves. Before we know it, we are the ones standing at the water cooler with off-the-cuff-boldness, delivering our cobbled-together-two-cents with the sureness of gospel... About someone we have only ever been acquainted with through celluloid.
 
We drag them through the dirt, and when there's just enough mud on their face, we let go, step back, and have a good laugh. We give them some time to stagger away. Then we jump off the freeway and back into the bushes, awaiting the next unsuspecting victim, and the cycle continues... It's just another man's reputation... A public figure, so it's OK. The onus is on him...
 
Is it possible to review TII without, consciously or unconsciously, passing judgment on Jackson or the allegations in his private life? I don't know. You be the judge.
 
I struggled with whether to write this; mostly because my knowledge and familiarity with Michael Jackson's life, death, musical influence and legacy are so limited, I wasn't sure I had the grounds with which to do so. I didn't live his music; it wasn't a part of my youth, as it was for millions of people around the world. I was too young in the prime of his solo career. I don't remember where I was the first time I heard Billie Jean. What I know now is really just a compilation of bits and pieces of what I've seen on television; some scattered interviews, news stories, specials on VH1, music video marathons on MTV... and of course, the court of public opinion, specifically, the 24-hour news cycle in the seven months following his death.
 
It's the combination of all those things that made This Is It so shocking, and not at all the composite I expected.
 
Jackson doesn't look frail or exhausted in his Staples Center rehearsals, quite the opposite, he's brimming with energy. He dances with more verve than any 50-year-old I've ever seen, or for that matter, any 40, 30 or 20-year-old. Very early on in TII we're reminded why he's widely considered the greatest performer in history.
 
Everything I'd heard or read about Jackson was picked apart. In TII he's meticulous, patient, focused, a perfectionist, who takes every aspect of the show, from the choreography to the set design, very, very seriously. This is someone who works d--- hard. We get quick interviews with artists, performers and technicians, all at the pinnacle of their profession, who make it very clear they were falling all over themselves to work with Jackson. From his work ethic, and his dogged demeanor, we see why. No one's phoning it in on This Is It. It's obvious these people aren't just doing a job; they're putting their heart and soul into this.
 
The movie gives us quick glimpses into his interaction with background dancers, musicians and technical directors. He's calm, kind, respectful, but, at the same time, knows what he wants and communicates it. His presence is electric, whether he's dancing or not. But when he dances, even in these rehearsals, everyone stops, and their jaws drop, and they can't help but be entranced. That really is the power of Jackson, his ability to silence a room. In one great moment, during a duet of I Just Can't Stop Loving You, vocalist Judith Hill gets so mesmerized she forgets to sing. Jackson has to tap her on the shoulder and remind her to keep going.
 
This Is It is fantastic. Director Kenny Ortega (Directed the High School Musical trilogy, designed and directed the O2 arena production and was the creative director for the Michael Jackson Memorial) puts together a movie that will satisfy diehard Jackson fans and appeal to those who, like me, know very little. He does an incredible job giving us a taste of what the finished product would have looked like, the scope and magnitude of the production, the sheer size of what was trying to be achieved. The film gives the perfect balance of both performance and behind-the-scenes looks at what it took to make this mammoth. I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for the hundreds of people who put thousands and thousands of hours into a project that never fully came to fruition. I imagine they were thrilled with this movie, and rightly so.
 
TII's greatest feat, however, is its sincerity. Ortega successfully sidesteps turning it into a referendum on Jackson. The songs breathe on their own, the interviews don't feel staged. The movie doesn't pander, it doesn't have unnecessary frills, it doesn't stargaze, it isn't maudlin or over-reverential ... it feels genuine.
 
I was so skeptical going into this, skeptical of the intentions of the producers and filmmakers: Whether they were trying to cash in one last time on the money tree that was Jackson, recoup some of their losses from the shows that weren't to be, by throwing together some laissez-faire footage and calling it good; knowing full well his fans would come out in droves either way. As The Guardian Newspaper asked in a poll on its website, was TII "shameless profiteering or important document to a pop legend?"
 
I thought it was ‘shameless profiteering'. I couldn't have been more wrong. This Is It is a worthy curtain call for the King of Pop.
 
ftanyos@kdrv.com