As the movie shows, Michael Jackson desperately wanted to ‘come back from the dead’ – something that became, ironically, a fatal quest.
“There’s some serious genius sh*t going on down here,” one of the back up singers says about MJ at some point during the film, and the audience – witnesses to talent that the world is yet to see repeated – couldn’t agree more.
The film, This Is It, on his final days and final performances and released four months after Michael Jackson’s death, is part documentary-part musical concert - based on the rehearsals for his London stage performances scheduled for July.
He was genius
At its best, this film showed us an MJ we didn’t get to see often: one that was in control and held his own. From the sounds to the lights, MJ showed that he knew something about everything – but then, what does one expect from a man who became a genius before he was 18?
“You’ve got to let it simmer,” he would say to one. “Let it go up,” he would say to another. And his voice... it was a magnificent instrument, and he could do so much with it, making everyone’s job so much easier.
And they responded with hero worship. “Are you alright Michael?” They would ask, with overwhelming deference. “You know, cos Michael, we all just want to make sure that you are okay and you are fine.”
With this much sucking up going on while the cameras were rolling, one shudders to think how bad it got in other parts of the 120 hours of footage we didn’t get to see.
He wanted this badly
Unfortunately, Jackson needed someone who could have told him the truth: that he had to stop. He was maintaining a relentless, ferocious pace – and he was 50, and hadn’t performed in a while.
True, his vocal prowess was still incredible, but he obviously was too feeble for the things he had to do. Some songs had up to six parts, and he would, according to his voice coach, Dorian Holley - sing through all the parts rapid fire to show what he wanted - and then he was sparring with young guys in their 20s.
In the film, he once playfully complained that the crowd of adoring fans (question: how is it that so many macho young men fell so hopelessly in love with such an androgynous – some will say girly – man, suspected to sleep with boys?) was pushing him too far.
“I am saving my voice for the concert,” he said once when he managed to resist the temptation – too little, too late - to hit the high notes. Terribly ironic now – but it showed just how badly he wanted this; so much that he ignored the warnings of his gangly, increasingly sickly, frame.
And all that time, he was also being pumped with a cocktail of drugs – including “lethal levels” of the powerful anaesthetic, Propofol, which eventually killed him.
He was a good man
If anything, this film emphasises what many MJ admirers were convinced of: that he was a good person.
The way kind words slipped off his tongue, he either had to be one of the world’s most gracious, or he was the king - of manipulation. “God bless you,” he would say after giving an instruction. “I love you” is something singers say automatically to fans, but Michael said it with such with tenderness and feeling, that you could feel the love.
“Don’t worry,” he would say when someone missed something. “This is why we rehearse.” And when he once criticised, he quickly added, “And I said that with love – L-O-V-E.”
It is appropriate then that this film is as much about the guys that were part of the production as it was about him. The backup singers and the dancers, the production designers and lighting directors the percussionists and bassists – everyone was highlighted.
And what is remarkable is that they were all able to share in this glory without at all diminishing Michael.
He was the movie
And the film was a spectacle – of lights and sound and design and special effects - everything was just grand and electrifying.
According to the producer, Kenny Ortega, “We had new technology with video, costuming, lighting with sound, with pyrotechnics. I came to know very quickly that Michael liked things hotter, bigger, louder,” he said.
And Michael, the icing on the cake, was at home in the lavishness; the utter fabulousity. Everything about the actual performance rehearsals was perfect.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the two-hour film. There was so much footage that could have been manipulated to effect; there was so much richness that could have been made into a spell-binding movie.
But, whilst the cameramen did a yeoman’s job getting incredibly insightful footage from great angles, the producers, directors, and writers – such as there were – just let it all run on its own steam. There was no story and no theme; we just seemed to move from performance to performance.
If this film was about anyone else less magnificent, it would have been a punching bag for critics. But, thankfully, each time it began to drag and flag, MJ would come in with another electrifying performance – and the world would be alright again. So, at the end, this was only a world class concert, put on film.
Still, you might not be spellbound, but you would be greatly entertained anyway – so we still owe them gratitude for helping us share in those moments.
But he was not the same
All that having been said, something had definitely changed.
Yes, Michael’s energy was incredible and his voice nothing short of magical. The attention to detail was also inspiring in this generation of artists who want to become ‘great’ without doing the hard work that it involves (and hard work is perhaps Michael’s greatest legacy)... but something had changed.
His dancing still had the magic – but it was clearly uncoordinated. His moves were slower and his rhythm faltered more than once.
It all gave this writer a sense that if that comeback show had actually held, fans - at least critical fans – would have been disappointed. But, now viewed against the soft after-glow of death, it becomes an immortal thing. The genius is preserved just as we remember it.
Seen that way, we can say that the rehearsals WERE the performance: this was the King of Pop’s last stroke of genius. In that case, Michael – the master dancer - couldn’t have choreographed his death better.
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