West Side Story

**West Side Story: when the classic musical dons a comedic disguise (and wins a Golden Globe)**

The setting is the same: the streets of New York, the rival gangs, the impossible love. But in this 2021 version, *West Side Story* dares to laugh at itself. It's not a solemn remake, but a comedy that plays with the genre's tropes without losing its essence. And it works. So much so that it took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical Movie.

It's no coincidence. Steven Spielberg and his team take the original material —that Romeo and Juliet with choreographies— and inject it with humor that, in less skilled hands, would have felt forced. Here, the jokes about the Jets and the Sharks don't reduce tension, but make it more human. Even the musical numbers, those moments of pure spectacle, have a complicit wink with the audience. What's the result? A movie that respects its legacy but doesn't take itself too seriously.

That being said, it's not a conventional comedy. There are laughs, but also stabbings, blood, and that ending we already know. The grace lies in how it balances both tones: tragedy peeks through the jokes, and the jokes lighten the tragedy. A juggling act that few achieve without falling into ridicule. Spielberg succeeds because, after all, he knows that the musical is a genre of extremes: either everything is grandiose or everything is a disaster.

Is it worth watching? If you're looking for the *West Side Story* of always, you might be disappointed. But if you want to see how a classic reinvents itself without losing its soul —and on top of that makes you smile—, this is your movie. That being said, be prepared to hum *America* for days. And to laugh at Tony when, in the midst of drama, he trips over his own cape.

Steven Spielberg breathes new life into this classic, with a thrilling rhythm and choreographies that leave you breathless.

" Something's coming, something good — Tony

" America, America, I love America! — Anita