Gerald Sato

One bad choice after another by Spielberg and Kushner. A few examples: Tony and Maria, supposedly trapped by the violence of their neighborhood, take a fun trip to the Met Cloisters, find a stained glass window, and sing One Hand, One Heart, no emotion at all compared to the earlier movie and stage productions where this is performed in the apartment with the mannequin and the couple tries very hard to imagine a better future. And “America” is usually performed on an apartment rooftop or in an attic, great emotional power in a cramped space. But this is all diluted in Spielberg’s version in which “America” becomes a dance March through the streets, the emotion of the comic argument between the men and women completely lost. The tragic conclusion hews closest to earlier versions and is effective in spite of the rest of the movie being pretty much unwatchable.