Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Michael - movie review by Lisa Blanck
Antoine Fuqua’s new biopic, Michael, is a film divided into thirds. The first 30 minutes are an encapsulation of the early years of the Jackson 5, featuring pop tunes the world knew and whole-heartedly embraced. I dare any of you who grew up in the era between 1969 and 1978, to watch the film and not mouth all the words. I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save (you will use the arm movements) and, of course, I’ll Be There (just look over your shoulder honey … oooh!) Juliano Valdi does an excellent job as young Michael from Gary, Indiana, wowing the audience both onstage and in the movie theater.
This is the J5 that went head-to-head with the Osmond Brothers, the siblings frequenting covers of Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine. Their posters were pinups in bedrooms of pre-teen girls from coast to coast. The J5 looked happy and wholesome, had the moves and the sounds that made them heartthrobs. They even had their own cartoon (on ABC, of course), which premiered in 1971.
On the surface it appeared to have been idyllic. Looking back, and well documented in Michael, we know that Joe Jackson, father, manager, marketer and strict disciplinarian, was a tyrant that everyone in the family feared. His abuse of the kids and his wife, Katherine (Nia Long) wasn’t limited to the belt. It was mental and verbal as well. As Joe, Colman Domingo brings more power to Michael than either Valdi or Jaafar Jackson, who portrays a post-teen MJ. When Joe tosses another offhand insult to young Michael, calling him ‘big nose’, he does it without a thought to the hurt it causes his own son.
Looking backward, we know that this dagger will follow Michael to his dying day, causing him to endure multiple surgeries, the pain of which ultimately contributed to his early demise.
However, the film doesn’t travel quite so far along Michael’s life. It’s focused on celebrating the King of Pop before the tabloids. From stealing James Brown’s dance moves, to watching an eight-year-old Michael blow the socks off Motown’s Berry Gordy (Larenz Tate) and Suzanne de Passe (Laura Harrier) with his voice and energy, you can’t stop yourself from smiling.
In the second act, there are delicious, possibly fictitious, behind-the-scenes introductions of Bubbles the chimp and Jabbar the giraffe. Cloistered by his own success, as well as Joe Jackson’s iron control, he felt it impossible to befriend humans his own age; we can understand how Michael purchased/adopted his own ‘family’ for companionship. His human friends are limited to the Motown executives and his manager, Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones). Both men become supportive father-figures to Michael.
The final third includes, of course, the development of Thriller. The groundbreaking multi-platinum album that Michael used to convince MTV to put black artists on the air. I was there, at MTV Networks, when we got word that CBS was going to pull the videos of every artist if they didn’t put Michael’s songs into heavy rotation. Artistic, captivating, grounbreaking videos for Thriller, Billy Jean and Beat It catapulted Michael into suburban homes across the country. In the end, the relationship between MTV and Michael was 100% symbiotic, breaking the color barrier for both entities. Michael wanted to be starting something, and he certainly accomplished that.
Like the Broadway musical, MJ, Janet Jackson is non-existent in this film. I read that she didn’t want to detract at all from Michael’s story. However, Ms. Jackson’s Rhythm Nation influence on some of Michael’s later dance moves in the film is clear. Yes, he even steals from his own multi-talented sister. His brothers and LaToya are there, but they serve as just sounds in the background of his life.
The film celebrates the stellar highs and the rock bottom lows of Michael Jackson. The singular issue I have with Jaafar’s performance is not that it’s not entertaining, but that we don’t know if it’s accurate. And that’s because no one actually knew Michael. Quiet and intrusive, almost hermit-like when not onstage, we don’t really know how he felt about being the King of Pop. He whispered his way through public appearances. We do know that Michael used his celebrity status and fortune to do much good in the world, philanthropy-wise, until the Neverland stories emerged. Michael never reaches those wrought-iron gates, though we're brought to the story of Peter Pan time and time again.
Truly, we Never Can Say Goodbye to Michael Jackson. You’ll Enjoy Yourself if you spend a few hours with Michael.
