Wish (2023)
Directors: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Screenwriters: Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore
Starring: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky

One hundred years of Disney. How does one possibly celebrate such an occasion? The little studio that begun with animated movies about a cartoon mouse (and rabbit) almost one hundred years ago now exists as a behemoth of the entertainment industry, owning half of Hollywood as well as the famed Disneyland and Disneyworld theme parks. With so much power, so much history and so many controversies, what could the company plan for their 100th birthday party release Wish that could possibly pay homage to such a legacy?

After undergoing a five year hiatus from releasing original animated movies between 2016’s Moana and 2021’s Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney have gone back to what they do best, what they are most known for, animation. They have returned to their roots in the past few years and released animated pictures like Raya, Encanto, and Strange World, to varying degrees of success. 

Wish finds itself set in the wonderful kingdom of Rosas, which is ruled by its king Magnifico (Chris Pine). King Magnifico performs a yearly ritual in which once someone turns 18, they can pass their greatest wish onto him and he will protect it and potentially allow it to come true one day. However, once Asha (Ariana DeBose) discovers that Magnifico’s intentions may not be as pure as they seem, she realises that she must do whatever she can to stop him. Even wishing upon a star. 

As is probably obvious from the story of a young girl wishing upon a star, the film finds itself heavily inspired by the famed Disney tune “When You Wish Upon a Star”, which originally featured in Pinocchio but has since become Disney’s signature song. Much like this little reference to the past of the company, the film is also filled to the brim with references that show the journey of Disney from then to now. 

It’s a good idea in scope; a nice way to celebrate the history of the studio whilst pushing forward with the new. This is, however, the only facet of the movie that feels at all genuine.

Whilst Disney were patting themselves on the back for how great their company used to be, they forgot to put heart into any other aspects of Wish. Similar to the hand-drawn animation style that the film attempts to replicate, much of Wish is flat and one dimensional.

This disingenuity is most evident in the film’s characters. The main character Asha (voiced by DeBose in perhaps the only memorable vocal performance of the entire film) is given a bit more depth and personality, but the side characters make it clear what was most important to Disney in the making of this film. The supporting cast of Asha’s family, friends and sidekicks is upwards of ten people, all of whom are of varying races, genders and sizes, placing equality, diversity and inclusivity at the forefront of the film to showcase the company’s core values. At least, what the company would like you to think are their core values. This becomes painstakingly obvious through the number “Knowing What I Know Now”, in which the film makes a point to show the differences in the characters through their blocking.

The issue is, these characters are given so little to do and have such little depth that we simply do not care about a single one of them. Though the filmmakers would like us to believe that these are beliefs, values and causes that the studio care about, they do almost nothing to convince us of that fallacy. Instead, the little bit of character that Asha’s friends are afforded is that each of them are inspired by the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This once again proves that what Disney cares about the most is patting themselves on the back.

Wish essentially only exists as a form of corporate self-fellatio that is as insufferable to watch as it is to write about.

Coming in at only ninety-five minutes, the centenary celebration of Walt Disney Studios moves along at a breakneck pace, showing us that even the execs up at Disney HQ wanted this one to be over just as quickly as we did. This simultaneously illustrates just how little care was put into the story aspects of the film and how Wish is really just one big advertisement for the company that made it. Come the end of the film, a character asks how they could possibly keep the magic of the Kingdom of Rosas alive, to which another responds “easy, just keep wishing.” What Disney are really saying is “keep buying tickets.”

Just as one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, it must be said that among the garbage there are some nuggets of gold in Wish. The story has a really good idea underpinning it, and the film offers a nice opportunity to create a full-circle moment for the “wish upon a star” fable that Disney is essentially built upon. Going back to the hand-drawn aesthetic is also a nice touch, as is making the film a musical. Given more time, care and passion, Wish could have been something special. All it needed was some heart. The lack thereof in the final product tells us more about the company that made it than anything in Wish ever could. 

Wish is a hollow and lazy picture that feeds its audiences the propaganda of Disney, only this time they aren’t even hiding it with the usual magic that pervades throughout their output. Though the kids seeing this film will undoubtedly enjoy it, they deserve better. 

Score: 7/24

The winners of the 76th EE BAFTA Film Awards (2023) were announced from the Southbank Centre in London, England on Sunday 19th February, with All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin taking home the evening’s major awards.

In a ceremony presented to those live in attendance by BAFTA-nominated actor Richard E. Grant, and co-hosted by beloved British television presenter Allison Hammond, a total of twenty awards were handed to what the British Academy of Film and Television Arts decided were the greatest feats in filmmaking from 2022.

All Quiet on the Western Front beat early favourite and British/Irish film The Banshees of Inisherin to the Best Film and Best Director awards, earning recognition in seven categories also including Film Not In the English Language and Adapted Screenplay. The Banshees of Inisherin, meanwhile, was recognised as the Outstanding British Film, earning further recognition in the Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay categories.

The ceremony itself was presented at a fairly fast pace, the broadcast of the awards beginning later than the ceremony itself and using its tape delay to catch up to live proceedings for the last three awards: Actor, Actress, Best Film.

Richard E. Grant was endearing in his duty as host, offering laughs here and there, his most memorable moment coming whilst choking up at the In Memoriam portion of the ceremony. Live musical performances were provided by BAFTA-winning actress Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), who performed a medley in tribute to empowered women on screen, and British musician Little Simz, whose performance of “Heart on Fire” has already been widely praised.

Iconic costume designer Sandy Powell (Gangs of New York, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Favourite) was honoured with the British Academy of Film and Television’s annual BAFTA Fellowship, an award handed to those whose careers have been immensely impactful to the British film industry. Her acceptance speech, championing those in the film industry beyond the glitz and glamour of the on-screen roles, was of admirable intent.

In the only award of the night chosen by the public, Emily star Emma Mackey won the EE BAFTA Rising Star award, the actress earning the public’s favour over fellow ‘Sex Education’ actress Aimee Lou Wood (Living), Good Luck to You, Leo Grande actor Daryl McCormack, Naomi Ackie and Sheila Atim.

The full list of winners for the 76th BAFTA Film Awards (2023):

Best Film – All Quiet On the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár

Outstanding British Film – The Banshees of Inisherin
Aftersun
Brian and Charles
Empire of Light
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Living
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical
See How They Run
The Swimmers
The Wonder

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
George Oakley, Hélène Sifre (Blue Jean)
Marie Lidén (Electric Malady)
Katy Brand (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande)
Maia Kenworthy (Rebellion)

Film Not In the English Language – All Quiet On the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Corsage
Decision To Leave
The Quiet Girl

Documentary – Navalny
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Moonage Daydream

Animated Film – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red

Director – Edward Berger (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Park Chan-Wook (Decision To Leave)
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Todd Field (Tár)
Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King)

Original Screenplay – Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)
Todd Field (Tár)
Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)

Adapted Screenplay – Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Kazuo Ishiguro (Living)
Colm Bairéad (The Quiet Girl)
Rebecca Lenkiewicz (She Said)
Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale)

Leading Actress – Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Viola Davis (The Woman King)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Ana De Armas (Blonde)
Emma Thompson (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande)
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Leading Actor – Austin Butler (Elvis)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Daryl McCormack (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande)
Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Bill Nighy (Living)

Supporting Actress – Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Hong Chau (The Whale)
Dolly De Leon (Triangle of Sadness)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Carey Mulligan (She Said)

Supporting Actor – Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)
Albrecht Schuch (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Michael Ward (Empire of Light)

Casting – Nikki Barrett, Denise Chamlan (Elvis)
Lucy Pardee (Aftersun)
Simone Bär (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Sarah Halley Finn (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Pauline Hansson (Triangle of Sadness)

Cinematography – James Friend (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Greig Fraser (The Batman)
Mandy Walker (Elvis)
Roger Deakins (Empire of Light)
Claudio Miranda (Top Gun: Maverick)

Editing – Paul Rogers (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Sven Budelmann (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Mikkel E. G. Nielsen (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa (Elvis)
Eddie Hamilton (Top Gun: Maverick)

Costume Design – Catherine Martin (Elvis)
Lisy Christi (All Quiet On the Western Front)
J.R. Hawbaker, Albert Wolsky (Amsterdam)
Mary Zophres (Babylon)
Jenny Beavan (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris)

Make Up & Hair – Elvis
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Batman
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical
The Whale

Production Design – Babylon
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Batman
Elvis
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Original Score – Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet On the Western Front)
Justin Hurwitz (Babylon)
Carter Burwell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Son Lux (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Alexandre Desplat (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)

Sound – All Quiet On the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

Special Visual Effects – Avatar: The Way of Water
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Batman
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Top Gun: Maverick

British Short Animation – The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse
Middle Watch
Your Mountain Is Waiting

British Short Film – An Irish Goodbye
The Ballad of Olive Morris
Bazigaga
Bus Girl
A Drifting Up

EE Rising Star – Emma Mackey
Aimee Lou Wood
Daryl McCormack
Naomi Ackie
Sheila Atim

BAFTA Fellowship – Sandy Powell

Hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes, the 2022 Oscars awarded 23 golden statues to the films and filmmakers that the nine-thousand-plus members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected as the very best of cinema from 2021.

Controversially, eight Academy Awards were handed out in the hour that preceded the 2022 Oscars’ live broadcast. The move, which is the first of its kind for the Academy Awards, sought to reduce the show’s runtime and make the Oscars more palatable for casual audiences. It was a risk that doesn’t seem to have paid off, the decision being met with a backlash on social media from avid film-watchers and Oscars enthusiasts, but more tellingly creating confusion amongst the casual audiences it sought to appease. Perhaps most vitally as regards the future of the ceremony’s formatting, the pre-show coverage of the red carpet was noticeably dampened once almost every Hollywood name invited to the ceremony made their way into the venue ahead of the first pre-broadcast award, leaving an empty red carpet for channels such as the E! Network to cover in the hour leading up to the ceremony, losing momentum for the Oscars but also dropping interest (and likely ratings, and thus advertising dollars) for the Academy’s partners.

Surprisingly, the omission of these eight categories was not the most controversial part of the ceremony, with that honour going to Will Smith and his apparent assault on presenter Chris Rock. You can see the clip below [warning: physical violence, bad language].

UNCENSORED WILL SMITH FOOTAGE AS SHOWN ON AUSTRALIAN TV pic.twitter.com/NcRfdjWxqe

— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 28, 2022

Considered by some at the time to be nothing more than well-performed comedy hijinks, Chris Rock’s clearly rattled expression and the manner in which he was unable to successfully read the rest of his category introduction, matched with Smith’s own bitter scowl, sent social media into a spiral. Smith was heard shouting “keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth” in some ceremony broadcasts. This moment was kept from the broadcast on ABC in the United States.

Will Smith later accepted the award for Actor in a Leading Role for his part in King Richard – in which he played the father of Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams – and spoke teary-eyed of being protective over those he loves, crying as he wished for the Academy to invite him back in the future, seemingly confirming the severity of the altercation from earlier in the night.

Here’s Will Smith’s tearful acceptance speech at the #Oscars. https://t.co/ulvT7fsB57 pic.twitter.com/Uq2krBbBld

— Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022

The rest of the broadcast proved to be a bitty affair, with awards and skits seemingly lacking any functional relation to one another, some strange song-to-video segments compacting the broadcast’s issues as comedians openly mocked the very premise of the awards. New categories, such as those selected by the public as “popular choice” were intersected in between large categories, reducing their impact to those who care and highlighting their needlessness to those who never did.

The awards themselves made a lot of history, CODA supporting actor Troy Kotsur becoming only the 2nd deaf actor to win an acting award. The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion also made history, becoming the first woman to ever succeed another female Best Director winner.

Ultimately it was Denis Villeneuve’s Warner Bros blockbuster Dune that came away from the 2022 Oscars with the most Academy Awards, the otherworldly sci-fi earning six wins and proving particularly successful across the technical categories such as production design and visual effects. Drive My Car’s award for International Feature was the only one won by a film not in the English language.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

The winners of the 94th Academy Awards (Oscars) are as follows:

BEST PICTURE – CODA
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Recommended for you: 2022 Oscars Best Picture Nominees Ranked

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM – DRIVE MY CAR
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM – ENCANTO
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon

Recommended for you: 2022 Animated Feature Oscar Nominees Ranked

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – SUMMER OF SOUL (… OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Writing with Fire

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE – JESSICA CHASTAIN (THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE)
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – WILL SMITH (KING RICHARD)
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – ARIANA DEBOSE (WEST SIDE STORY)
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
Judi Dench (Belfast)
Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Troy Kotsur is only the 2nd deaf actor to win an Academy Award.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – TROY KOTSUR (CODA)
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
JK Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

DIRECTING – JANE CAMPION (THE POWER OF THE DOG)
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

CINEMATOGRAPHY – GREIG FRASER (DUNE)
Dan Laustsen (Nightmare Alley)
Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog)
Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Janusz Kamiński (West Side Story)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – KENNETH BRANAGH (BELFAST)
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person In the World

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – SIAN HEDER (CODA)
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog

FILM EDITING – JOE WALKER (DUNE)
Hank Corwin (Don’t Look Up)
Pamela Martin (King Richard)
Peter Sciberras (The Power of the Dog)
Andrew Weisblum, Myron I. Kerstein (Tick, Tick… Boom!)

PRODUCTION DESIGN – DUNE
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

COSTUME DESIGN – CRUELLA
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING – THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
House of Gucci

VISUAL EFFECTS – DUNE
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

ORIGINAL SCORE – HANS ZIMMER (DUNE)
Nicholas Britell (Don’t Look Up)
Germaine Franco (Encanto)
Alberto Iglesias (Parallel Mothers)
Jonny Greenwood (The Power of the Dog)

ORIGINAL SONG – “NO TIME TO DIE” (NO TIME TO DIE)
“Be Alive” (King Richard)
“Dos Orunguitas” (Encanto)
“Down To Joy” (Belfast)
“Somehow You Do” (Four Good Days)

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND – DUNE
Belfast
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM – THE LONG GOODBYE
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
The Dress
On My Mind
Please Hold

ANIMATED SHORT FILM – THE WINDSHIELD WIPER
Affairs of the Heart
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT – THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL
Audible
Lead Me Home
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies

Recommended for you: 21st Century Best Picture Winners Ranked

2022 Oscar-winning films by total number of wins:

6 – Dune
3 – CODA
2 – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
1 – Belfast; Cruella; Drive My Car; Encanto; King Richard; The Long Goodbye; No Time to Die; The Power of the Dog; The Queen of Basketball; Summer of Soul; West Side Story; The Windshield Wiper

West Side Story (2021)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Tony Kushner
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Brian d’Arcy James, Corey Stoll

It was one heck of a challenge to attempt to match Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ 1961 film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical West Side Story. If there was one director up to the task it was filmmaking heavyweight for our times Steven Spielberg, and he’s managed to bring all his usual grand sweep and attention to detail to bear in this, a film that is undeniably his vision of this iconic Broadway show.

In 1957 a gang war rages between the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks in the Upper West Side of New York City. Amidst increasingly violent fighting for rapidly shrinking territory as the neighbourhood is torn down for new urban development, former Jet member Tony (Ansel Elgort) and the sister of the Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez), Maria (Rachel Zegler), fall head-over-heels in love with each other.

West Side Story is famously a riff on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, the story of forbidden love between warring houses. It is made relevant for the modern age by rooting it in a specific time, place and culture, and makes for one of the darkest and most violent song and dance shows out there.

Spielberg may have delivered his particular take on most film genres over his storied 50 year career, but this is his first proper musical; the closest he’d previously come to doing one was probably the dance number in the opening scene from Temple of Doom. Not that his talent or versatility was ever in doubt, but Spielberg is able to draw from some very strong material to begin with. Bernstein’s orchestration is always going to send your heart soaring and set your feet tapping, Sondheim’s lyrics will always wow with their dexterity and cleverness. Match the right voices to belt out the tunes and you’re on to a real winner straight out the gate.

Rachel Zegler is a real find, and delivers an attention-grabbing and layered performance in her film debut as Maria. Ansel Elgort seems to take a little more time to find his feet as Tony, but certainly grows into the role from the magical moment when the central pair first meet. The standouts in the vibrant ensemble are undoubtedly Ariana DeBose as Maria’s formidable friend Anita, Mike Faist’s emotionally raw Jets leader Riff and the original film’s Anita, Rita Moreno, in a very poignant and surprisingly meaty new role surely destined for awards recognition.

The most striking image in a film full of striking images (courtesy of Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan DP Janusz Kamiński) is undoubtedly the two gangs approaching each other for their prior-agreed rumble for territorial control in the city salt storage warehouse, shot from above so the exaggerated shadows both groups cast look like two German Expressionist hands reaching out to meet each other.

The brawl that follows this stylish lead-in bears no relation to the dance-fighting in the same sequence in the original film. This is down and dirty, nasty gang violence between teenagers prepared to maim or kill each other out of ignorance and anger, justified or not.

There is a definite aesthetic shift after the muted colours of the film’s prologue introducing the gangs and the idea that their turf will soon be no more once the area is gentrified and the Lincoln Centre (ironically, a performing arts venue) is completed. The transition is signposted most notably by the dance hall sequence where the Jets and their partners are dressed in shades of blue and their Shark counterparts are in oranges and reds, their competitive dancing coming together in the centre of the hall, giving the appearance of water dousing fire. From here, the visuals become more theatrical and full of metaphorical imagery – people considering themselves and their future in reflective surfaces and water, literal barriers between lovers touching, draped fabric in symbolic colours.

The best sequence in the film (no change from the 1961 version) is the American Dream-mocking, prejudice-skewering extravaganza “America”. Switched up from taking place on a rooftop to the busy streets of the San Juan Hill neighbourhood, “America” is not the only number that has been smartly re-staged by Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner and their collaborators. The scathing but comic “Gee, Officer Krupke” is now performed in lockup, the uplifting “I Feel Pretty” is restored to the pallet-cleansing position it occupied in the stage show and now takes place in a department store being cleaned at night, and Rita Moreno is bequeathed the tear-jerker “Somewhere” to hugely moving affect when paired with her character Valentina’s revealed backstory.

The original film was quite rightly criticised for casting non-Latino actors in the Sharks roles, caking everyone (including the few Latino performers like Rita Moreno) with brown makeup to better fit ethnic stereotypes. Everyone is appropriately cast here and the Puerto Rican characters naturalistically flit between speaking English and Spanish in domestic settings, the Spanish mostly left untranslated but the meaning always clear from context.

One aspect of the story really emphasised in this new version is that this is a conflict between kids from a place but with nowhere to go versus kids adjusting to a new home with their families at their back. The Jets appear to live their lives on the streets with no other concerns, whereas the Puerto Ricans, particularly the women, all hold down employment to pay their way in their new country. One group is trying to get on with their lives and look to the future, the other is stuck in the past and can’t see far enough to blame anyone but the newcomers for the sad state they find themselves in.

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story wows, updating the more tired tropes and adding grit (and dramatic heft) without losing any of the musical’s energy or heady romance. Those particularly attached to the choreography, the staging or the performances of the original might find themselves predisposed to compare the two films and the different choices that were made, but if you go in with an open mind and allow yourself to get lost in the sheer majesty of the thing you’ll leave shiny-eyed and with many wonderful tunes going around your head for days.

22/24

The Prom (2020)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Screenwriters: Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin
Starring: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells, Jo Ellen Pellman, Ariana DeBose

With the popularity of productions such as La La Land and The Greatest Showman, as well as smaller films like Anna and the Apocalypse and Sing Street, the movie musical has seen something of a resurgence over the past five years or so. Looking to take advantage of the genre’s popularity, Netflix have adapted the critically acclaimed Broadway musical “The Prom”, with the creator of ‘Glee’, Ryan Murphy, and two of the original writers, Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, each on board to head what the streaming service are hoping is its next big hit. With an incredibly talented mix of musical actors (both on stage and on screen), and the talent of those working on the film behind the scenes, Netflix’s The Prom promised a great modern musical but ultimately offers something far less enthusing, the film failing to excel in ways that cover up its deficits. 

The Prom follows four Broadway actors – Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep), Barry Glickman (James Corden), Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman) and Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells) – who travel to the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana, to help Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman), a student banned from taking her girlfriend Alyssa Greene (Ariana Debose) to her high school prom. 

A running pitfall of The Prom is in its exploitation of stereotypes. The film makes a point to portray stereotypes both through their inaccuracies and their truths. Well… it certainly tries to anyway. Presenting small town America as the most ignorant type of conservative breeding grounds whilst also portraying Corden’s character Barry through the “show queen” stereotype of Gay men, The Prom more often than not avoids the commentary necessary for such stereotyping to hold a message or any value to the overall plot (or our overall enjoyment).

Although Corden’s “show queen” personality is very much at the forefront of Barry’s character, he is the one who undergoes the most enjoyable evolution and arguably becomes the very best part of the film. Corden delivers a surprisingly charismatic performance and shines in a number of scenes, releasing himself from the shackles of his reputation as a divisive figure to offer a pleasant surprise at the head of this film.

Among the other key castmates is Meryl Streep, who offers a good and watchable but hardly unmissable performance as Dee Dee, while the film’s other major drawing point Nicole Kidman is slotted into a role in which her talents are stifled. When it comes to Kidman’s character and that of Andrew Rannells’ Trent, there seems to be little reason as to why either need to be in the movie, with both failing to add to the story bar two horrible musical numbers (“The Acceptance Song” and “Zazz”). Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose simply do not get the screen time needed to leave much of an impression.

The blame regarding this and The Prom’s wider failures must fall on the shoulders of the screenwriters. Although both men wrote the original musical, their lack of experience writing feature length films is clear here, with a large majority of the film’s issues coming from the script itself. With exposition riddled dialogue (Dee Dee Allen’s character intro literally comes from a reporter saying “Dee Dee, you’re a broadway star!” to which she responds “yes I am!”), one dimensional characters and terrible shifts in tone, The Prom is not short of screenwriting sins, but perhaps its biggest is that Emma (Pellman) – the character around whom the entire story revolves – is nothing more than a side character, The Prom cheating prospective fans out of a genuine emotional arc. Instead, we are forced to follow four self-obsessed broadway stars whose emotional character progressions are either non-existent or practically plucked out of thin air. 

Although the majority of the film’s issues come from the screenplay, Ryan Murphy’s direction only works to magnify them. His terrible direction of the actors – his only direction towards Pellman seeming to be “Smile!” – doubled with Martin and Beguelin’s terrible writing creates a deadly mix that, if it hadn’t been for the popular cast people will undoubtedly be excited to see, could have sunk the entire film.

That isn’t to say that the trio deserve no praise whatsoever, as The Prom does actually present a fun, energetic and infectious atmosphere, something the stage play developed a reputation for. The scale and spectacle of the song and dance routines is nothing short of impressive, while most of the soundtrack is simply wonderful, and likely to stick in your head for weeks. The production and costume design play vital roles in furthering these achievements, solidifying The Prom as a beautiful film to look at. There is no doubt that the work in this regard will enter this latest high budget Netflix offering into the conversation regarding awards recognition, and may make it a frontrunner in the production design and costume design categories at the 2021 Oscars.

In these ways, The Prom excels, but no matter how deep you dig, how far you search or how objectively you do or do not look at it, this fun, fast-paced, large in scale musical with a number of notable performances is ultimately far from a critical darling, and will likely be more The Greatest Showman than La La Land, landing in the realm of audience favourite instead of Best Picture contender. It is simply too difficult to be swept away, and immersion is the key to the success of all movie musicals.

12/24