Michael Jackson – This Is It [FILM]
3/5
By: Peter Mills
In March, Michael Jackson held a press conference at the O2 to announce the This Is It concerts. I attended the conference, like many others, as an extremely excited but highly sceptical fan. God, I hate being right.
Upon his death, different people grieved for Michael Jackson in different ways. The press grieved for him with ninety per cent positive coverage, perhaps feeling some form of remorse in the way they treated him (or more likely, in a ploy to milk as much as they could out of the greatest and most final story their most generous cash cow would give them), some organised vigils. Some held quiet, personal periods of reflection on how he had blessed their lives. Some of the bereaved were able to listen to his music as part of the healing process; some were simply unable to cope with hearing the sound of his voice from beyond the grave.
Some, on the other hand, dressed up in their heavy, woollen military jackets, then went out on their own and got quite dangerously drunk in a park on one of the hottest days of the year, before returning home to change into a red shirt and black suit because “that’s what he wore in his last music video, ‘You Rock My World’, babe” to be then asked “why are you dressed as a flamenco dancer?” as they bounced around a nightclub repeatedly attempting to spin at exactly the right moment in ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’. Some are still crying whenever they open the fridge and see a pot of Jam, and some will forever continue to do so.
Twenty years ago, Michael Jackson had just finished his BAD World Tour and released the film Moonwalker. The man was at his zenith; untouchable to the point of him seeming supernatural. Moonwalker came with the tag line ‘A Movie Like No Other’, which it certainly was, although now Michael Jackson’s silverscreen canon has been broadened to incorporate one perhaps even more bizarre.
This Is It is the decidedly depressing result of filming the rehearsals for the show that was never meant to be. The film opens by informing us that the rehearsals were being filmed for Michael’s own private collection, which seems about right concerning how paranoid he had become (in the fateful Martin Bashir documentary, Michael had his own film crew film Bashir’s film crew filming him). And it is the fact that the footage is candid that makes This Is It so captivating. The entertainment value that Michael has irrefutably lost in sharpness of dancing is replaced by a slight insight into his psyche. Although, naturally, never anywhere near enough.
In true too-far-over-the-top Michael Jackson style, the opening of the concert is the arrival of a luminous alien being named Light Man in a huge, glowing, white orb. This CGI segment (one of a few in the show) is shown to us, and actually looks pretty impressive. The segment has a voiceover from the director (Kenny Ortega), which ends with the words “to reveal Michael...” Then cuts to a shot of Michael Jackson the Human Garish Clothes Hanger, standing all alone and skeletal in the middle of the stage. He looks like a corpse dressed in a massively oversized blazer (think David Byrne in Stop Making Sense plus added nightmare factor) with a rod shoved up his back for support. Then, before you have time to ask, “What the hell is that?” ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’ kicks in.
You have no idea how badly I wanted to end that last sentence with “and he is transformed into a pulsating, percussive manifestation of the music”. But I just can’t do it. I’m sure some observers, the blinkered maniacs and the uninitiated, will indeed describe this moment using such hyperbole as ‘genius’ or some other inappropriate superlative. What it is, in actual fact, is completely f**king tragic. He now appears to have a rod not just up his blazer, but up his sleeves and trousers as well. There is an excessive amount of pointing. And the singing is weak. Saying that, however, Michael Jackson hasn’t carried off a convincing performance of ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’ since he was thirty, so it’s hardly surprising he couldn’t pull it off at fifty. Yet he always persevered in attempting it. Yes, Michael, we understand the lyrical significance. You’re starting something. A concert. We get it. (During the opener, footage of the press conference is edited in. And I’m in it. Only for a second, a face in a crowd, but I’m in it. I’m in a Michael Jackson film. And you’re not.)
After ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’ there is the first of the frequent interludes in which we see Michael orchestrating his singers and musicians or choreographing his dancers. These bits are pure gold, they show a sage at work. During this interlude, I initially didn’t recognise the tune playing in the background, until the footage returned to the stage and out exploded a new arrangement of Jam. I’m not ashamed to say that I provided the cream. It’s always worth bearing in mind whilst watching This Is It that these are rehearsals and that Michael is never running on full steam – there are some occasions, however, where he’s approaching it.
They Don’t Care About Us follows. In 1995, when this song was released, Michael had well and truly succumbed to his paranoid fantasies and was portraying himself as either a Christ figure or a Nazi leader (this polarity wasn’t a new thing, of course, a decade earlier he’d been both a murderous werewolf in ‘Thriller’ and a humanitarian with ‘We Are The World’). Another of the CGI segments begins, and it involves Michael leading a troop of ‘infinity’ choreographed soldiers. As Michael goose-steps around the stage, you can see him smiling, self conscious at how truly awesome this is going to look once it’s been polished and delivered live. There is then an odd, short outburst of a song called ‘Speechless’ from the much-maligned Invincible album. It is sung beautifully, and the angelic character of Michael’s voice is there for all to hear. Interestingly, the only other song in the concert from the Invincible album is another odd, short moment at the end of Thriller when an instrumental part of ‘Threatened’ is played. This is another example of Michael’s duplicity, as the sound cannot be described as anything short of downright demonic.
Perhaps the vocal highlight of the rehearsals comes next, in the form of ‘Human Nature’. The end of the song provides one of the most touching parts of the film, as Michael implores “Oh why, oh why?” And I’m sure at one point Michael changes the lyrics to “Why did he do me this way?” whilst pointing towards his gaunt, ravaged face. Seeing Michael’s face is all the more painful when you consider that throughout the rehearsals he was reportedly continuing to have surgery on his face, although some suggest that the only reason Michael Jackson ever had any surgery was because he was addicted to the painkillers he received afterwards.
There is more CGI trickery in ‘Smooth Criminal’, where Michael is digitally placed into a scene involving Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth. After singing and dancing, Rita Hayworth whispers in someone’s ear “what’s he doing here?”And the camera pans round to see Michael Jackson in his ‘Smooth Criminal’ outfit, attempting to muster a botoxed smile. Bogart then chases him round, shooting at him, before Michael escapes by smashing through a 3D window. Then the music starts and Michael sings live but in a strange, raspy way. Actually, before the music begins, in a dialogue with Ortega, Michael Jackson says “I’m sizzling.” I wouldn’t be at all surprised if ‘sizzling’ was a Jacksonism for ‘off my tits’. Whatever, watch him dance and you’d never think so. ‘Smooth Criminal’ ends up being all-round extraordinary.
We see the 3D films again in ‘Thriller’ (where in his typically understated style, Michael eventually arrives on the stage within the belly of a giant spider) and ‘Earth Song’. ‘Earth Song’ is Michael’s love song to the planet, and this performance of it is one of the best that I’ve seen. Michael Jackson had covered erotic and family love before he was aged ten, so it’s hardly surprising he transcended to writing songs about a greater, universal love. In fact, this is the general theme for the show, and, surprisingly enough, it is sincerity rather than mawkishness that triumphs. He’s even scaled the ‘Earth Song’ performance down a little. Insofar as he no longer dresses up as Jesus for it, and at the end he doesn’t single-handedly halt a tank that rumbles onto the stage. It’s a digger instead. Still, it’s a highlight of the show as he sings it (live) beautifully.
‘Beat It’ and ‘Billie Jean’ are as sublime as ever, ‘Billie Jean’ incorporating some new moves, which are quite astonishing. The way he executes one in particular makes him look as if he’s made of molten metal, like T-1000, whilst another seems to be a self-referential slow motion crotch grind. Hilariously, at the end of the performance, watched by the rest of the crew who are awestruck, Michael says “At least we get a feel of it.” The man could still dance.
Perhaps the most poignant and heartbreaking aspect of the entire film is that Michael Jackson, after forty years of best selling records and one hundred thousand spectator concerts, is playing live for the final time to an empty audience. Those people who wished for a stripped down concert from Michael Jackson, one without his usual pomp, got their wish. This Is It is as raw as you can get - essentially a video diary of the last living days of Michael Jackson, the God of Pop.
Artists in this article: Michael Jackson
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