With "West Side Story", Steven Spielberg (Steven Spielberg) filmed his best film in decades. In addition, there are comments on the antiquated "House of Gucci" and the powerful Norwegian Holocaust drama "Betrayal"

Of all the ways the coronavirus has changed us, two particularly surprised me.

The first is the way that many of us seamlessly switch from office life to working at home. Now, not only does my daily commute time take three seconds (if the dog gets in the way, it takes five seconds), but I also use the time saved to develop a profitable side business: teaching robots how to recognize yachts and traffic lights .

Secondly, personally, I can easily reject one of my favorite movies: movies.

Before the pandemic, I used to watch three or four movies in the local cinema every month. However, until last week, in the six months or so after the cinema was reopened, I watched a total of four: "Creed", "Cluela", "No Time to Die" and "King Richard". Among them, only I have truly loved-believe me, no one is more surprised than your writer. It is "Crula".

Last week, when the American Writers Association quietly released a list of the 101 greatest screenplays of the 21st century (so far), I was thinking about this.

Although this list is an excellent memo of your truly must-see movies, it’s surprising that it took the lead in the movies of the first decade of this century.

Of the top 50 movies, 33 (exactly two-thirds) were released between 2000 and 2010-this to me is not to say that the script is better, but that Hollywood is in the 10 to 20 I made a different type of movie years ago and now do it.

The demise of Hollywood "medium budget" movies is well documented-the "spotless soul's eternal sunshine" genre (by the way, this is second on the list, second only to Jordan Peel's "Going Out") combination The wattage of stars with unforgettable characters and imaginative plots: This type of movie is increasingly difficult for middle-aged audiences to be interested in numbers, which means the only really important number-the balance sheet of the film company The numbers above-are not good for them.

In the past decade, directors trying to make these smart, ambitious, character-driven films have increasingly abandoned the big studios and found themselves on Netflix, Amazon, and Apple TV in this brave new world. New homes-directors like David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Alfonso Cullon, Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins and Jane Campion, let Quentin Tarantino, Shi Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson and Ridley Scott were among the last to die.

As it happens, I went back to the cinema last week to watch two of the latest movies on the latter list: Spielberg’s "West Side Story" and Scott’s "Gucci House" (and also commented on the upcoming PTA Excited about the trailer for "Licorice Pizza").

Based on the two trailers alone, I had high expectations for "The House of Gucci" and extremely low expectations for "West Side Story"-but it was a big mistake.

At the risk of exaggeration, "West Side Story" single-handedly rekindled my love for the movie experience. Since "Schindler's List" in 1993, I have not been so moved by Spielberg's movies. I don't remember when I heard so many sobbing and sobbing in the auditorium last time-I I just hope it's not because of omicron.

On a personal level, I am very happy to see Spielberg dedicated this film to his father-because since I said goodbye to my father earlier this year, I have never been in such an emotional state. .

The adaptation of this musical by the world’s most famous Jewish director and one of the most famous Jewish screenwriters (Tony Kushner) is very appropriate, because for me, the "West Side Story" may be Jewish in American pop culture. The pinnacle of collective achievement. Composer Leonard Bernstein-now even Michael Stipe can't write the name yelling-lyricist Stephen Sondheim (Stephen Sondheim) , Choreographer Jerome Robbins (Jerome Robbins) and book writer Arthur Laurents (Arthur Laurents) are New York Jewish (born Bernstein was adopted).

And, of course, Robbins’ original idea of ​​the musical was a "Romeo and Juliet" story about the Catholic and Jewish gangs in the Lower East Side during the Easter Passover-the Jets and the Emerald Gang. Discord. In addition, the heroine was originally set to be a Holocaust survivor who moved from Israel to New York (hence Lorenz's original name "Eastern Side Story").

After the emerald was considered "too white", the Jewish gang became the famous Puerto Rican shark. Spielberg and Kushner's wisest decision here was to make a slight modification to the classic storyline-now it is actually in Under the background of gentrification, because the slums were cleared near Lincoln Square. (Work at the actual Lincoln Center at the center of the quarter did indeed begin in 1955, when the action had been determined.)

The changes they make are usually effective, such as moving the eye-catching "Gee, Officer Krupke" number earlier in the storyline, allowing the climax to flow uninterruptedly at the end. And only occasionally makes the choice feel too sentimental—for example, choosing Rita Moreno (Anita in the 1961 award-winning movie) as Valentina, the widow of the Doc character who owns the shop in the original. She can also perform "Somewhere", the Consuelo character who sang this song in the original version has completely disappeared.

Due to the trash can nature of most recent high-profile music adaptations — best summed up by the term "cat butt" — it is obviously not considered that this evergreen work will achieve such a brilliant success. After all, in this work, dance is an indispensable part of the action, thanks to Spielberg’s great credit, in the famous "rumble" scene between the Jets and Sharks, I only think of "Anchor" twice.

The movie does look quite sensational, with many breathtaking moments, including a dance clip of Tony and Maria meeting for the first time, and some overhead shots of geniuses that are worth the admission fee alone.

I only have two questions about this movie. The first one is Ansel Elgort as Tony. He may look like a young hybrid of Jeff Bridges and Marlon Brando, but what I have been thinking about is the wrong positioning of the latter in "Boys and Dolls". Although this is an unfair idea, I always hope that they will allow Elgort to complete all the performances during filming, and then replace him with a singing tennis ball on a stick in post-production.

Fortunately, although Elgort has proved to be more insipid than the white marshmallow, the newcomer Rachel Zegler’s performance as Maria is amazing-please forgive me for mixing my musical Marias here, but her shine on the screen is real It feels like you are holding a beam of moonlight in your hand.

Ariana DeBose is almost as impressive as Anita. If dry eye occurs at home during their "A Boy Like That / I Have a Love" duet, it can only be conjunctivitis.

Another problem with movies? After each song, you have the urge to jump up and shout "Bravo!" When the lights finally came on, I found myself thinking: This is why I fell in love with movies.

In contrast, despite Lady Gaga's best efforts to breathe life into a surprisingly inert drama, "The Gucci House" is a frustratingly boring work.

I used to think of myself as a fan of Ridley Scott-like "Alien", "Blade Runner" and "Selma and Louise", who doesn't? But over the years, his work has become disappointing, bland, solid rather than inspired, craftsman rather than handwork.

I think he dramatized the story of Getty's kidnapping in "All the Money in the World" in 2017. But compared to his latest Italian work, it feels like a masterpiece, completely without capturing the madness of its true story.

"Gucci House" is known as a true crime camp classic-I hope it is the "me, Tonya" of the fashion world. However, apart from the ridiculously superb performances of Jared Leto and Al Pacino-among all the actors, how could Pacino portray such an English-speaking Italian, unbelievable? ——This is a movie that repeatedly mishandles all important moments.

I feel sorry for Lady Gaga, she tried to inject some much-needed energy like Patrizia Reggiani, her character is as tough as the leather on the famous Gucci bags, but we will never be able to decipher it. When she met a geek Gucci (Adam Driver) who happened to be the heir to the family wealth, was she a gold digger attracted by this name? Or is she a woman in love/contemptuous woman seeking crazy and intense solutions to her problems? It's hard to tell from this movie that it manages to meander and twists at the same time, but rushes through all the key moments in an unsatisfactory way.

At the risk of sounding like my teenage daughter, I will watch anything about Adam Driver. But we will never go deep into the fur of his Maurizio Gucci, which means that his increasingly leftist movements feel like a screenwriter’s whimsy, rather than being out of character.

I do admire Scott’s work ethic—this is the 27th film of the 84-year-old man in more than 40 years, which is especially impressive when you consider all the TV production work he has done in recent years. (The somewhat neglected HBO Max sci returns with "Raised by Wolves" in the second season of February).

But "House of Gucci" feels like a torturous shopping trip. In the end you have nothing but a bad Italian accent in your mind.

In 2010, a French film told about one of the most shameful events in French history, "Laffle" ("Summary"), about the Paris overview in July 1942 and the subsequent deportation of approximately 13,000 Jews by the French authorities on behalf of the Nazis.

Later that same year, a little-known but equally disturbing event occurred in Nazi-occupied Norway. This traumatic story was retelled in the powerful Norwegian film "Betrayal." (The original title was "Den største forbrytelsen" or "The Greatest Crime".)

We should note that nearly 70 Norwegians were awarded the title of "Righteous International" by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum for their efforts to save Jews during the war. But as the title suggests, "Betrayal" is definitely not about them.

On the contrary, it shamed the Norwegians who were willing to cooperate-the most famous was the police who carried out the actual round-up. On November 26, 1942, 773 Jews were driven to the port of Oslo, loaded with SS Donau and taken to Austria. Swisshin concentration camp. Only 38 people survived.

Then came the liquidation committee, whose officials collected a detailed list of Jewish assets and either brought them into the country or put them in their own pockets. This meant that when the surviving Jews in Norway returned in 1945, they had nothing to do with them. Has been taken away. There are also Jewish detention camps, where "lucky" people married to "Aryans" have some chance to survive the war.

"Betrayal" specifically tells the story of the Oslo Browder family. Their four siblings include the boxer Charles (Jacob Offtbro), who tends to make angry remarks at the Sabbath table, such as " Being Jews only brings us trouble!" Sadly, this movie will not refute his views.

I often think of David Wilkinson's recent passionate documentary, "Get Out of Law," which shows how 99% of war criminals can escape punishment. This was the case of Norwegian police officer Anders Danielsen Lie. He organized the roundup but escaped any form of post-war retaliation and eventually retired in 1965 and received a police pension. It was Knut indeed.

"Betrayed" is similar to the "Auschwitz Report" in some respects. It is a modest but vital film that provides the necessary inspiration for the dark moments in a country's wartime history.

"West Side Story" and "Gucci House" are now in theaters. "Betrayal" can be watched on video-on-demand and in some cinemas in the United States.