I’m giving Chicago a grade of “B+”
as a compromise. The first half deserves an “A”, and the second only a
“B”. It starts out with a rocket ship of adrenaline -- the best work that
Bob Fosse never filmed -- but it ultimately loses its momentum and has to rely
on plot and character, of which there isn’t much.
I’m writing this the day after seeing it, and I can’t think of a great deal
to say. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed it while I was watching
it. It just hasn’t resonated.
I’d much rather take this opportunity to promote the work of Bob Fosse, the
great choreographer and filmmaker on whose work this film is based. It’s
unfortunate that Fosse’s work as a film director isn’t spoken of more. He
had a major revival in the late-1990s for his stage work, with Tony Award
winning productions of Cabaret and Chicago doing healthy business
on Broadway, as well as the conglomerated tribute Fosse.
Most young film enthusiasts aren’t as aware of his screen work. They’re
unaware, for example, that he earned three straight Best Picture and Best
Director nominations for Cabaret, Lenny and All That Jazz
(the title was taken from Chicago). He won the Best Director statuette
for Cabaret, beating Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather.
Although The Godfather’s status is unimpeachable at this point, it’s
quite easy to see in 1973 Cabaret doing as well or better at the awards.
Bob Fosse was far ahead of Martin Scorsese in terms of camera movement and
editing. Cabaret is only being approached cinematically in 2003 with Chicago.
Lenny, with its grainy black & white, predated Raging Bull.
And the rapid repeating montages of All That Jazz influenced Requiem
for a Dream from two decades in the past.
Unfortunately for Bob Fosse he died in the mid-’80s, cutting his career short.
His films during the 1970s were as good as anybody’s. And by anybody, I mean
Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick and Steven Spielberg.
Rob Marshall makes a promising feature debut and displays a great deal of
technical confidence. He’s not as original as say, Baz Luhrman, but he more
than impressed me. Richard Gere, who played Danny Zuko onstage in Grease,
explodes with enthusiasm, and it’s thrilling to watch him break out of his
refined, debonaire persona for a sweaty tap-dance. Renée Zellweger, one of our
best up and coming actresses, does her best, but I thought she was miscast here
-- I never bought her as a great manipulator. Katherine Zeta-Jones, who has a
theater background, is good, but unspectacular -- too glamorous, not enough
bitch.
This glamour is ultimately the film’s greatest fault. Whereas Fosse’s work
was ugly -- you could feel the sweat, smell the stench of rot -- Chicago
is slick and polished. Its cynicism seems more of a fashionable pose than
anything else.
It should be interesting to see where the form of the movie musical goes from
here. It had been dormant for years, existing as either Disney cartoons or MTV
videos, but now many directors including Paul Thomas Anderson are jumping to
give it a go. Both Moulin Rouge! and Chicago have done well at the
awards, but it has yet to be seen if that can translate into box office. And
that will be the ultimate barometer.
Chicago is good. But dig up real Fosse to be blown away. -Jamie Stuart
GRADE: B+
-Copyright 2003 by
Jamie
Stuart