West Side Story

When determining 2021’s best picture, not only should we be considering movies with breath-taking cinematography, but movies with a cohesive, impactful, and entertaining story. The 2021 remake of West Side Story did not only meet those expectations, but exceeded them. The 1961 version of West Side Story is a classic, but its recent remake has certain aspects that were better executed than its original. Let’s dive into some of those aspects and why it deserves the title for best picture. 

The film’s overall cinematography was striking, including its sets, visuals, and even camera angles that really encompassed the emotions of the actors. The beloved leads of West Side Story (2021), Tony and María, played by Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort, did a marvelous job at being passionate and emotive while captivating the audience with their love story. The supporting cast, specifically David Alvares (Bernardo), Arianna DeBose (Anita), and Mike Faist (Riff), gave such an enriched yet entertaining performance throughout the movie, especially in the musical scenes. The cast’s singing, dancing, and overall performance was basically flawless, and arguably better than the original. Not only are the cast members incredibly talented in singing the movies classic songs, such as Tonight, America, and Cool, but they executed the choreography beautifully. 

The basic plot is about a modern Romeo and Juliet, in which their relationship faces obstacles mainly because of gang fights between different races. One of its meaningful themes is that love has no boundaries, and that you should never stop fighting for love. It’s important that West Side Story (2021) presented this theme because as old as the time period the movie was set it may be, its themes are still very much critical to everyday life. West Side Story (2021) is very deserving of best picture because of how true it stayed to its legendary original movie while making it uniquely its own.