Elphaba, an ostracized but defiant girl born with green skin, and Glinda, a privileged aristocrat born popular, become extremely unlikely friends in the magical Land of Oz. As the two girls struggl...
I finally got the chance to share a movie experience with another musical buff and a true friend of mine. What better film to celebrate with than “Wicked”, an exploration of the complicated relationship of both the Good and Wicked Witches as their life journeys twist and turn en route to the events of one of my favorite films of all time.
Ok, let’s not sugarcoat it: this was a home run.
Seamlessly mixing poignant demented energy with heavenly reverie, Jon M. Chu’s track record of unselfconscious crowdpleasing carries over to the final product here. His keen eye for structural playfulness means his directing style here encourages enthusiasm, like a delicate maestro empowering his orchestra for one last performance; so much heart.
Phantasmagoria in its purest form, there’s no shortage of visual treats to feast your eyes on here; it gracefully pirouettes from eye-popping scene to eye-popping scene like a principal dancer, bolstered by the French Art Deco style production design making swift use of its bold geometric forms and sleek elongated figures all connected by astute pastiche and tactical that makes up some of the scope and scale missing. A wonderful job is done paying homage to the beloved world of Oz while reimagining it to where every place breathes freely and without restraints. Now the inverse to all that is that the hints of washed-out digital realism in comparison to the Wizard of Oz’s brightly technicolored extravagance 85 years ago kept ramming into my head and it doesn’t stay too endearing at times…..but even that’s done intentionally and makes sense when you know the context.
A friend of mine called the camerawork “elegance by simplicity” and she’s not wrong there; none of the shots are too complicated but they didn’t need to be to with so many seamless editing tricks and transitions. The color palette is about as meticulous as the lighting, costumes feel like antiques, incredibly intricate in the manner they blend touches from many different decades and cultures and for a movie bordering close to three hours, the pacing never really ever drags on. And even in the rare instances it does, so much time and care is spent building the foundation, you can’t not believe the film itself isn’t aware that said scope and scale for the entire story is too grandiose for just one film.
Stephen Schwartz’s music speaks for itself: brilliantly performed, solidly choreographed and wickedly mesmerizing.
Many of the performers do resonant work supplying their characters with enough pop and zest for them to stand out, but let’s be honest here: you know who the real stars are. A versatile performer and gifted mimic, Ariana Grande’s sugary perkiness shines as she carries both the weight and grace of a complacent diva stuck in place but this is Cynthia Erivo’s show. Soulful and introspective, she owns her loneliness into a stark battle cry that screams raw power.
Definitely helps they have chemistry in abundance.
Not only is this narrative in general being painted with very broad strokes but the emotional heft equipped with it wrestles a complete arc out of what’s essentially half of the story…..and makes damn sure you vibe along every step of the way. Congratulating both its fanbase and the audience members even remotely interested in the source material pays off, for it harbors a delicate balance between traditional rise-and-fall story beats and the reviled “And then” method of storytelling to manifest a thorny beating heart as two-faced as it is sentimental without turning overly saccharine. Formulaic in places, it still plays up the Broadway original’s fanciful sense of humor while the songs do most of the heavy narrative lifting and the movie never has to break itself to pieces to compensate for its shortcomings.
It’s a harbinger of what feels like an old-fashioned Golden Age musical equipped with some brutal commentary.
Taking its many allegories and metaphors apart in discussing prejudice and scapegoating, it does put the entire story of The Wizard of Oz under a new spotlight. Between the dissection of political dissidents and minority groups being demonized, fascist con artists who trade competence for theatricality to garner praise and the fear of otherness (sexual orientation, gender, race, immigrants, etc), it’s both blunt enough and vague enough that we can adapt it to any sociopolitical environment. But let’s be honest, it’s impossible not to daisy-chain them to what now remains of our society and what will be left of it given the aftermath of this election season. It holds no qualms about where its true intentions lie despite being much lighter than the book it’s based on and delivers it with prissy powder pink precision.
I don’t blame anyone for thinking it simplifies its message or it’s too empathic in said delivery about otherness being a convenient target for rising fascism or entitled bigots especially since the film’s tone itself barely maintains that awkward swing near the end from happy to dark. The long runtime justifies that placement but it still can’t help feeling so bloated all the time either and some characters look a little too backlit cause of the lighting but…..
….c’mon. This is too much fun.
Wandering down the yellow brick road will feel different this time, if you’re open to a lavish, impeccably decorated cathartic think-piece on the dangers of prejudice and rising fascism while jamming out to your Oz-tonishing bangers that bolster that narrative. Me personally, it’s one of the best movie-going experiences in a very long time; cinematic bliss.
