The concert would have been great

geode

I hadn't really planned to see this show today, but a dental appointment was timed such that I ate lunch in a mall here in Bangkok and wandered by the multiplex upstairs after eating. The second showing of the day was to start in ten minutes, so I bought a ticket. There had been advance-booking for the last couple of weeks, with a chart showing the available seats for each show. A week ago the showings had two or three seats booked at best for any show. For the showing I attended there were twenty-five people in a five hundred seat house. I looked at a poster on my way in and realized this was the first day of release, so this was a disappointing turnout.

I don't know what material was available from the tapes of rehearsals, but the film as a whole is often a bit of a patch-work quilt, sometimes feeling somewhat like the pieces are a bit mismatched. In some numbers there are frequent cuts back and forth from at least three different occasions, as shown by Michael wearing different wardrobe. Also adding to this effect is the fact that some shots were captured in high-definition, others in standard video which are inter-cut for the same songs. The audio on the other hand is pretty seamless and of high quality throughout. Sometimes a song sequence is interrupted to show a behind the scenes conference on how to proceed. Many songs are not included in their entirety, apparently to allow for such background material to be included instead. Much of the show seemed like an extended "making of" extra to a main event.

Again, I do not know what material was available, but if most songs were recorded in their entirety, I think I would have preferred to see an attempt to show what the final concert would have been like, without so many interruptions. If I had directed it, I would have done a few minutes of the behind the show material first and then attempt a concert experience. For instance, there is a sequence done in B&W with MJ interacting in a crime movie facing a menacing Humphrey Bogart after watching Rita Hayworth sing. But this segment is interrupted multiple times with color shots done on stage, some with the associated song, some not. I was disappointed not to be able to see the way the B&W segment would have played in concert. I am guessing it would have been in one continuous piece.

As it is, I can see where the concert would have been a real treat. I worked as a stage hand for a Jackson Five concert over thirty-seven years ago, and it was well done but far less elaborate. Michael's voice and dancing still appeared to be in top form to me despite all the intervening years, and the set design and lighting was elaborate and effective. Perhaps the show was edited as it is to allow us to see him as a perfectionist at work, but someone who had rapport with his cast and crew. His interaction with the cute blonde lady guitarist is a high-light. He comes across as a normal, down to earth person, albeit one that is incredibly talented.

I felt a little sad at times while watching this show because he seemed so vital and fit that it is still hard to accept that he is gone. Perhaps he really could have played fifty play-dates in London without faltering. Considering how vigorous the numbers are, this would have been another great achievement for him.

score 7/10

geode 28 October 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2148440/