Hands up all of us who thought Michael Jackson was an alien weirdo not remotely worth bothering with. Hands up and say sorry.
Director Kenny Ortega has turned rehearsal footage into a cinema release to show the world the performance that Michael Jackson didn't live to give.
And what a show it would have been. But just as importantly, Ortega's film conveys a genuine sens
e – to all of us who completely failed to notice it – of just what a genius Jackson was.
Ortega delivers a fascinating glimpse of a performance being perfected, with the arch perfectionist always at the helm, absolutely in his element.
There was no simply stroll on and sing to Michael Jackson, it seems.
A huge entourage was slowly putting together an absolute epic, the very best musicians enhanced by dazzling choreography from the very best young dancers, the whole thing wrapped up with superb lightning and endlessly-inventive video footage.
And at the top, controlling everything, was MJ himself, careful with every last detail, clear in what he wanted, supportive of everyone and outshining them all at every turn.
Where you might have expected a bevy of toadies grovelling at his feet, there was genuine respect and mutual affection.
Just occasionally, there is a sense that the crew are walking on egg shells; and just occasionally you wish someone somewhere had turned round and said 'No, Michael, let's do it this way'.
But it was never going to be fly on-the-wall in that way; instead you get an overpowering sense of what the world lost when it lost Michael Jackson, an astonishing performer who was creating something truly special.
Just once or twice he seems a bit breathless, but who wouldn't be with the punishing dance routines he was constantly putting himself through.
Instead you get a sense of the energy of the man – a sense all the more tragic for the fact that he was just weeks away from death.
The film doesn't tell a story in the way Let It Be does with The Beatles' rehearsal footage; and with no crowd, obviously it
doesn't scale the heights of The Stones' Shine A Light.
But it's powerful, poignant stuff – with no sense of the otherworldly cocoon which surrounded him and ultimately swallowed him up.
For most of us, Jackson either made your flesh creep or your heart leap, with little in between.
There can be little doubting that in his personal life he got
so much horribly wrong; but in his element, on the stage, he was clearly up there among the very best.
Phil Hewitt ****
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