I must first admit that I am not a huge Michael Jackson fan, I don’t know all his songs or albums or even lyrics to most of his popular songs. But I loved the guy and his music.
I am using 'love' in the sense to express those times when we have all grooved to his music and thanked him for some great tunes and videos.
So before the weekend got over I wanted to catch “This is It” the latest docu-feature on MJ’s final curtain call. My husband, who is a devoted fan (read his blog post) had bought tickets a month ago for the first day’s show of “This is it” but due to some compelling work we had to miss the movie and couldn’t even pawn off the tickets to someone else.Nevertheless, we didn’t miss the movie as we caught it right before it was taken off.
Right from the first frame, tears welled up in my eyes and I thought it wouldn’t stop. Amid loud cheers from the audience in the hall, we sat with hands clasped tightly in silence, watching the Man make some amazing moves which he is so famous for.
It took quite some time for me to fight back my tears and applaud. Applause came spontaneous and unrelenting from the audience for the whole of 2 hours of the movie.
It was surprising to see how charged up MJ looked, he was on top of the things – lighting, music arrangement, choreography, stage set, props and video – he had full control over everything. It brought a smile to see his ways of making a suggestion or expressing his discontent at some of the arrangements, it was all so humble.
For instance there was this music composer who just wasn’t getting the rhythm right for a song. Michael told him simply its just not the same speed as what he composed for the album. And when the composer said “I can add some booty if you want” MJ simply said, “Oh that’s funny” suggesting (I thought) that he didn’t need booty for his music.
The movie shook off the post-death image that media had created. MJ was jumping, rolling on the floor, doing the moonwalk, and leading the pack of professional dancers – nothing to suggest that he was weak or unhealthy. We went home wondering what really killed Michael then? This 50-year old man was as good as a 35 year old MJ working his magic.
The movie is shot and edited very well, no unnecessary interviews, no boring details of his profile. It was straight forward and didn’t waver off from the prime subject – Michael Jackson’s preparation for his last concert tour.
But most of all, the movie reminds you that the legend is no more and that’s the heart breaking reality.
