Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed by: Rob Marshall. Produced by: Martin Richards. Written by: Bill Condon, based on the musical play Chicago. Director of Photography: Dion Beebe. Edited by: Martin Walsh. Music by: John Kander. Lyrics by: Fred Ebb Released by: Miramax. Country of Origin: USA. 113 min. Rated: PG-13. With: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere & Queen Latifah. DVD Features: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette. Deleted Scene: Musical Number "Class" with Zeta-Jones & Latifah. Commentary by: Marshall & Condon. French Language Track. Spanish Subtitles.
Set in 1920s Chicago “where the gin is cold and the piano’s hot, a noisy hall where
there’s a nightly brawl,” Roxie (Zellweger), a married, wannabe vaudeville star shoots her
lover after he reneges on his promise to further her career. Groomed by her slick lawyer
(brilliantly played by Gere) and mentored by her tough jailhouse warden (hot mama Latifah), she becomes a media sensation, gaining fame and sympathy, and
eventually supplanting her idol turned rival, the infamous Velma Kelly (an athletic
Zeta-Jones), off of the headlines. Told through the eyes of Roxie, the adapted screenplay
by Conlon beautifully weaves the dialogue with the musical numbers, each of which is an
amplification of Roxie’s fantasies. This framework drives the narrative forward and
deepens our understanding of Roxie. Indeed, in this version of Chicago, empathy
for the characters is felt as the camera brings them close to the viewer rather than in the
emotionally distant Broadway stagings. The performers are truly
triple threats. And Zellweger captures brilliantly the vulnerability and Chaplinesque
quality of her character. It is great fun to watch Gere tap dance, Zeta-Jones cartwheel over
a chair and Zellweger Charleston. Choreographer Marshall uses dance and movement true
to the period with the appropriate addition of street smarts in some numbers and elegance
in others. The standout number is “The Cell Block Tango,” a series of duets. Because of
lighting and camera angles the men are in shadow only. The women dance rigorously and
with ferocious intensity, exemplifying the repetitive lyric, “He had it coming.”
Chicago is strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys movie musicals. Haila Strauss,
Choreographer of over 100 musical theatre productions, Associate Professor
of Theatre and Dance, Marymount Manhattan College
DVD features: The DVD extras don’t steal
the spotlight from Velma and Roxie. The featurette is
a self-congratulatory promo, and the bawdy but rightly omitted “Class” number would
have, as director Marshall comments, dragged the pace. However, the informative commentary
offers a key to the film’s success: musicals are all about transitions. KT |
