This Is It – 7

You don’t have to be an admirer of Michael Jackson or his music – and I am neither – to be awed and amazed at the level of professionalism that was going into his comeback concert, and has now been preserved in this skillful film by concert director Kenny Ortega. If you thought MJ weird before you saw this – and I did – nothing here will change your opinion, and that is one of the film’s strengths. It doesn’t appear to sugarcoat, or go out of its way to humanize Michael, whose vocabulary seems limited to “God bless you.” Still, the brilliance of the background dancers, backup singers, musicians, choreographer, lighting director, costume designer, filmmakers who wend their talents in support of Michael’s trademark robotic dance moves, more craft than art, is blinding. Thinking only of Prince, for one, Michael’s “King of Pop” moniker seems wildly hyperbolic, but this would have been one awesome concert experience, and seeing it backstage, like this, probably gives it an approachability that makes it more endearing than the finished product we will, sadly, never see.

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