This is It: Michael Jackson's Transcendence

As usual, I felt really confused when looking for a movie to watch this past weekend. I have a lot of thoughts about what's happened to movies in the U.S. -- the consequences of the multi-nationals taking over our industry and sucking it dry like so much else in this country (not to mention the world). But that wasn't what was bothering me this past Saturday night. I just wanted to see something that might surprise me a little and not disappoint me completely.

I still find fishing through the Web for movie info confusing and generally frustrating. I miss the days of those good old underground papers like The Village Voice giving me real data -- or a good piece of word of mouth (always the most reliable). So the fact that a friend said see the Michael Jackson documentary, This Is It, gained traction for me as everything on my Web search seemed increasingly unclear and almost sad -- such junk out there and it's supposed to be the time of the "serious (Oscar contending) movies".

So word of mouth -- that's what this little piece is. Go see This is it. To my utter surprise This Is It is one of the finest and most powerful films I've seen in a long time.

I was never a Michael Jackson fan. Not at all. When he was a child I found his music manipulative and muddy -- he seemed like an over-coiffed puppet. As he grew up he became equal parts scary and sad to me, not to mention wildly and crassly commercial. And then there were all the issues of the monster that seemed to emerge -- the baby out the window stunt, all those rumored boys in his over-sized bed, his strange home, his face -- a pop freak to the max, a ghoul.

So I went to see This Is It the way one might go see a horror picture, I suppose, except I hoped there might be some okay dancing, some bizarre, perhaps drug riven singing. What I encountered instead was an artist at the absolute top of his game -- and it is an astonishing game. He emanated Greek tragedy, Keats-like vulnerability, but also a top surgeon's drive and clarity. Plus, he wears wild, whimsical outfits which somehow suit him, elevate him.

There is a level of human beauty that blossoms here on the screen that is incontestable, even as the boy/man/woman's face is a mask of face lifts and skin-dye gone grotesquely awry.

And then I found myself literally weeping for his voice that had the depth and maturity of the finest and most complex wine, a Shakespearean wine that rose above the tragedy of what his life had become.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Amadeus, and this has the tone of that movie as towards the end Mozart (played brilliantly by Tom Hulce and directed by Milos Forman) addresses his inner demons and outer enemies with music and (in MJ's case) dance. And talk about dance -- Michael Jackson surrounded himself with the finest hip-hop dancers alive for this show. The film opens with these dancers (from all over the world -- many of them weeping with joy because they had been selected from hundreds of other dancers a la Chorus Line -- very strange for me at what appeared to be a cloying beginning) but not for one moment during the entire film did I watch any of these other dancers. My eyes were locked on Michael, every fiber of his body emanating feelings as deep as I've seen in any film.

And now he's gone. But the movie isn't. Don't miss it. As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences I haven't yet been hammered with a campaign for This Is It to grab the documentary Oscar, probably because the "brilliant" studio guys think it's not "meaningful" enough. Funny how real art is never considered meaningful by the money guys until it's too late. So maybe I need to start that campaign myself.

Maybe... this is it.

 

 

 

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Comments

[Beth-Anne]

02:24 AM on 02/14/2010

" Because parents have power over children. They feel they have to do what their parents say. But the love of money is the root of all evil. And this is a sweet child. And to see him turn like this, this isn't him. This is not him. "


Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

12:57 AM on 02/14/2010

" Doctor Murray didn't act alone. In April, when he stands up and gives account of himself, we should all do the same. What brought this shining individual­, this gentle titan of heart and beauty - Michael, to the abject pain and suffering he endured, and ultimately to his early death. Hate did, fear did, non-unders­tanding and judgement did - and we allowed that to happen. All of us.
We allowed it to happen. "

[Katie S]

05:08 PM on 02/13/2010

"It is cruelty, it´s ugly and I hate it. You are my brother (points out to the children). They are my brothers. If you are black, white, Arab....we are all the same. I love all races equally...­. I love all people of the world."



Michael Jackson, 1996 TV Interview with children in Tunisia

[Katie S]

05:07 PM on 02/13/2010

"I do my best. Sure. I want to be the best father in the world of course.



Michael Jackson, Interview with Geraldo Rivera 2005

[Katie S]

05:06 PM on 02/13/2010

"There is no miracle in life that compares with watching your child come into the world. I love family life....ev­erything about it. I want them to grow up being surrounded by love and by family. I love and adore my children. They mean everything to me. When they’re in public though, I conceal their faces, cause I want my children protected. At home, they have a normal life, they play with other kids and they have a good time, they’re laughing a lot. They run around, they even go to school. It’s a normal life for them. But in public, I must protect them. I love my children very much, and I’m proud to be their dad."

Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

05:05 PM on 02/13/2010

"What can I do but bring forth the talent that God gave me? That's all I wanted to do. To share the love and gift of entertainm­ent. That's all I want to do. I don't want to hurt anybody."



Michael Jackson

2002 Radio interview with Steve Harvey

[Katie S]

05:05 PM on 02/13/2010

" I'm committed to my art. I believe that all art has as its ultimate goal the union between the material and the spiritual, the human and the divine. And I believe that that is the very reason for the existence of art and what I do. And I feel fortunate in being that instrument through which music flows .... Deep inside I feel that this world we live in is really a big, huge, monumental symphonic orchestra. I believe that in its primordial form all of creation is sound and that it's not just random sound, that its music. You've heard the expression­, music of the spheres? Well, thats a very literal phrase. In the Gospels, we read, "And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." That breath of life to me is the music of life and it permeates every fiber of creation. "


Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

05:04 PM on 02/13/2010

" ....I realize that many of our world's problems today from the inner city crime to large scale wars and terrorism and our overcrowde­d prisons are a result of the fact that children have had their childhoods stolen from them. The magic, the wonder, the mystery and the innocence of a child's heart are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world. I really believe that. What we need to learn from children isn't childish. Being with them connects us to the deeper wisdom of life, which is everpresen­t and only asks to be lived. They know the way to solutions that lie waiting to be recognized within our own hearts. Today, I would like to thank all of the children of the world, including the sick and deprived. I am so sensitive to your pain."


Michael Jackson, Grammy Legend Award speech, 35th Annual Grammy Awards, 1993

[Katie S]

05:03 PM on 02/13/2010

"I’m very concerned about the plight of the internatio­nal global warming phenomenon­. I knew it was coming, but I wish they would have gotten people’s interest sooner. But it’s never too late. It’s been described as a runaway train; if we don’t stop it, we’ll never get it back. So we have to fix it now. That’s what I was trying to do with "Earth Song", "Heal The World", "We Are The World", writing those songs to open up people’s consciousn­ess. I wish people would listen to every word. I just wish they (including the authoritie­s) would do more for the babies and children, help them more. That would be great, wouldn’t it?"

Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

05:02 PM on 02/13/2010

" With "Heal the World" we have helped millions; and, as we speak, we are looking at a hospital in New Jersey. That would be the first Michael Jackson hospital and we would like to make these, throughout the world. That is our goal and our mission. And I hate the word 'orphanage­', but pretty much a housing for a unity of people that are in need, you know. This is, pretty much, where my heart is and I would love to continue doing it."


Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

05:00 PM on 02/13/2010

"....I love to do things for children and I try to imitate Jesus. And no, I am not saying I am Jesus, I'm not saying that.... I'm trying to imitate Jesus in the fact that he said to be like children, to love children, to be as pure as children, and to make yourself as innocent and to see the world through eyes of wonderment and the whole magical quality of it all and I love that. And we'll have like a hundred bald headed children, they all have cancer, and they're all running around. And they are enjoying themselves and it makes me cry happy tears that I was able to do this for them, you know. (It) makes me so pleased inside."

Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

04:59 PM on 02/13/2010

"One of my favourite pastimes is being with children – talking to them , playing with them, wattlin’ in the grass. They’re one of the main reasons why I do what I do. Children are more than adults. They know everything that people are trying to find out – they know so many secrets – but it’s hard for them to get it out. I can recognize that and learn from it. They (the children) say some things that’ll astound you. They go through brilliant, genius stages, but when they become a certain age, they lose it. So many people think certain things are childlike, but grown-ups are really nothing but children who have lost all that real magic by not noticing and digging and finding out. I believe in that deeply."

Michael Jackson, 1980.

[Katie S]

04:58 PM on 02/13/2010

"Diana was a wonderful person with such a good heart. She went round the world as a philantrop­ist just like Mother Theresa. She proved that she really, really cared about people, and children, especially­. The way that I do....She felt hunted in the way I’ve felt hunted. Trapped, if you like....Di­ana’s death was the saddest I’ve ever felt. It reminded me of when Kennedy died. It broke my heart so much, I just cried and cried...."

Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

04:57 PM on 02/13/2010

"The press has made up so much...God­...awful, horrifying stories...­it has made me realize the more often you hear a lie, I mean, you begin to believe it."



Michael Jackson

[Katie S]

04:50 PM on 02/13/2010

" In the end, what should matter is all of the good that he did, looking at his heart and his pure desire to help others, seeing the beauty that was within, and accepting and forgiving his humanity just as we would want done for us. In my opinion, Michael was a beautiful person inside and out and he did his best to live out the beauty that was inside of him and in the end, who we are inside and what we do with what God has given us, is what will change the world, affect others' lives, make a difference and be our legacy. Michael's legacy still shines bright because he dared to share who he was inside with all of us. He dared and risked being transparen­t even if it wasn't easy for him and was something that may not be received favorably. He hurt and felt pain because of it, though many forgot that he was, in his own words, just like everybody else. He hurt and he bled. He was...wond­erfully human. "


Deborah Kunesh, journalist­.