Wednesday, May 21, 2014

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Chicago" (2002)

So it's been nearly three weeks since I've written a blog for the Best Picture Showcase. The reason? My wife and I took a vacation to celebrate our anniversary. We traveled through Pennsylvania and Ohio, stopping here and there along the way before finally settling for 5 days in our ultimate planned destination of Chicago, Illinois. So I figured this was the best time there ever could be for us to tackle the 2002 Best Picture winner, the movie musical Chicago. Set in the 1920's, the film is based on the 1975 Broadway musical, which had a pretty long run but was not well-received by audiences, most likely due to the show's rather dark and cynical tone. The director and choreographer of the original stage musical was Bob Fosse, and he planned a film version but passed away in 1987 before he could bring that plan to fruition. A Broadway revival was initiated in 1996 and it is still running today, and the success of that revival renewed interest in the long-dormant plans for a film version. It was worth the wait.

===


Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) arrives at the nightclub where she performs an act with her sister Veronica. However, she's alone tonight. The club owner questions where Veronica is, and Velma simply says she's "not herself tonight." Velma runs into her dressing room briefly to hide a gun and wash blood off of her hands. She then darts out to the stage just as she's being introduced, and performs the first song we see and hear during the film, "All That Jazz". Watching her perform is Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger), who despite being married is there with Fred Casely (Dominic West), who claims to be able to get her into show business. Fred tells her it's time to leave during the song. Roxie says she thought she was supposed to meet his producer friend. Fred says it's all taken care of. They leave and have a passionate night at Roxie's place while her husband is at work. Meanwhile, Velma continues her song, and as she finishes she notices the police arrive.

A month passes. Roxie talks to Fred after another liaison, discussing Velma's pending trial for murder. She also wonders when she's going to meet his producer friend. Fred ignores her as long as he can before finally telling her he was lying the whole time, he just wanted to get her into bed. He calls her a two-bit talent and when she confronts him, he shoves her against the wall and starts to leave. He doesn't get out the door because Roxie pulls a gun out and shoots him dead. When the cops arrive later, Roxie's husband Amos (John C. Reilly), who is now home as well, is telling District Attorney Harrison (Colm Feore) that HE shot him because he walked in just as this apparent burglar started entering through the window. This is told to us simultaneously as another song is presented ("Funny Honey"). Many of the songs are done this way throughout the film, presented in the style of being a stage show with the bandleader (Taye Diggs) introducing each number. Roxie is singing Amos's praises of being a good husband, but when the DA tells Amos the identity of the deceased, Amos says he knows him as he sold them their furniture. Amos then angrily admits Roxie told him to tell the cops this story, thinking it would be a thrown-out case due to self-defense. Roxie's song then turns angry too. Roxie tries to claim self-defense as well, but her story is full of holes, plus she's then told Fred was married too. Roxie is now furious and says she'd shoot him again, and she's arrested.


Roxie's booked and now in jail. She meets the warden of the women's prison, who goes by Mama (Queen Latifah). Roxie discovers as she's being brought to her cell that Velma's in there too. At her cell, Roxie has a tough realization of her situation when the doors are locked and it's lights out. This brings us to the "Cell Block Tango" number, in which many of the women tell their stories of why and how they killed their husbands/lovers, and in most cases they're guilty and they don't have any shame about it ("He had it comin..."). Each story is played out with a symbolic red strip of fabric held by the women signifying each killing. This includes Velma, who has two strips. She killed her husband and her sister when she found them in bed together, although she says she's blacked out the incident and doesn't recall it too well. One woman, who doesn't speak English, is a ballerina. She tells her story to us in her foreign language, but her ribbon is white. She's innocent as she claims.


Roxie works in the prison laundry. She brings towels into Mama's office restroom and overhears Mama and Velma discussing potential gigs Mama may be able to set up for her if she's found innocent in her trial. As Velma leaves, Roxie says hello and hands over Velma's dainties, which Roxie pressed herself. She asks for some advice, starstruck as she is. Velma's flippant advice is to keep her hands off of her underwear. Mama tells Roxie not to worry about Velma, and then chats with her about her case. Mama says Roxie should get Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), the best defense lawyer in Chicago. He's never lost a case. For $100, Mama will make the call for her. Flynn is then introduced to us through another song and dance ("All I Care About"). Flynn visits the jail to talk to Velma, who he already represents, and he tells Roxie he'll take her case too if she can pay him the $5,000 he requires.

Amos visits Flynn at his office. He doesn't have the $5,000, but gives him the $2,000 he was able to scrounge up. Flynn at first is angry, saying Amos told him he has the money, but he doesn't, so he's a liar. Amos starts to leave, but Flynn stops him. He admires the fact that even though Roxie was cheating on him and tried to set up Amos to take the blame, he still loves his wife. Flynn accepts the $2,000 and will take the case.

Flynn visits the jail and talks with Roxie, preparing her defense. Velma, meanwhile, is no longer Flynn's top priority. Roxie cuts her hair into a new style at Flynn's encouraging, as he plans to make Roxie a sympathetic and adored person with the general public. Velma warns Roxie that Flynn's most important priority is always Flynn. When the time comes for Roxie to enter her plea in court, she does so as "not guilty" before going out onto the court steps to face the media with Flynn. Flynn tries to commandeer the press conference and say all the right things, but Roxie often chimes in and says all the wrong things. This is shown to us with the musical number "We Both Reached For the Gun", which states her defense and presents Flynn as the puppet master, having all the media members on strings and Roxie as a ventriloquist's dummy saying what Flynn wants her to say.


Roxie is now the darling of the public. They love her. Even dolls of her are selling. Velma is sick of hearing about Roxie, and then sees that even Mama has styled her hair like Roxie's. Mama tells Velma her planned tour is scrapped. Her name's not in the papers and interest has waned. Velma decides it's time to suck up to Roxie. She pitches a show idea with the two of them, but Roxie is disinterested and she blows off Velma, telling her she's washed up and mocking the fact that the only mention of her in today's newspaper is 7 words on the back page.

Roxie is now completely full of herself, but it looks like Flynn no longer has her as his top client. Flynn is with a new woman (Lucy Liu), who even as she's brought into the jail is a complete hellcat, kicking the media around and cursing up a storm. She killed her husband and the two women she found him in bed with. Roxie can't get Flynn's or the media's attention as he goes by, and Velma sees this and mocks Roxie for what seems to be the start of her public disappearance. Roxie thinks quickly and fakes passing out, which gets everyone to go over to her with concern. Roxie says she's fine, but she's worried about the baby. Everyone reacts with shock. Velma sneers a profanity. The media and Flynn are now fully refocused on Roxie.

After leaving the hospital, Roxie faces the media once again. Amos is there but can't be seen or heard over the frenzy. He's excited about the baby news. However, Flynn tells Amos later that he couldn't be the father since he had claimed in the past that they hadn't been intimate for many months. Amos storms out and says he's divorcing Roxie. Flynn then has problems with Roxie too. She won't wear the dress he's picked out, and her ego about her public image is completely out of control. Flynn says she's a flash in the pan. She fires him.


Roxie gets word that the ballerina, who is innocent of her convicted murder, has lost her final appeal and is going to be the first woman ever hanged in Chicago history. The hanging takes place as we're presented with a stage show setting of her performing a disappearing act. This shocking turn of events scares Roxie into rehiring Flynn and agreeing to wear the dress and saying everything he wants her to say in court. Flynn sings to us about "Razzle Dazzle" as we see court scenes. One scene is Amos, who is called to the stand and won't look at Roxie at all. Flynn razzle-dazzles his way into convincing Amos that he HAS to be the father and he shouldn't divorce this sweet, repentant woman. Roxie even adds some razzle-dazzle by hugging Amos.

Finally, it's Roxie's time to take the stand. She presents her defense, completely fabricated and sold to the jury with tears, sorrow and some flashing of her thigh-high stockings. Roxie claims that she broke off the affair with Fred when she found out she was pregnant. Fred refused to accept that and threw her down on the bed. Amos's gun was nearby and they both reached for it. She got there first and shot him not in self-defense, but in the defense of her poor, unborn child. She then fakes passing out again. Velma and Mama are listening to the live media coverage on the radio, and Velma is irate that Roxie stole her planned courtroom antics. Mama says Velma should relax, and she shows her Roxie's diary.


The next day in court, a rebuttal witness is called by DA Harrison. It's Velma. Flynn and Roxie are stunned to see her. Flynn objects that there is no such diary, but Roxie chimes in that her cell was locked. So much for that objection. Harrison asks Velma to quote from the diary. She does so, but falsely. On cross-examination, Flynn has her read the actual lines, which present real lines versus insinuations. Flynn says Velma is having her charges dropped by Harrison in exchange for this testimony. Velma slips that all she knows is what she was told. Velma admits Mama gave her the diary. Flynn accuses Harrison of planting the diary and things get chaotic in the courtroom.

Finally, the verdict is reached. Roxie is found not guilty, and immediately upon the announcement, newspapers are being sold outside with the information. Just seconds after that, a woman shoots two people outside the courtroom and is arrested. The media runs out of the courtroom to get outside. Roxie is incensed that her face isn't getting in the papers. Flynn leaves too, saying his job is done. Amos is the only person left in the courtroom with Roxie. He wants her to come home so they can prepare for their baby. Roxie scoffs and says there's no baby, and then goes back to lamenting about the lack of publicity she's getting right now. Amos leaves crestfallen as Roxie sings to us following an introduction by the bandleader that Roxie is now saying goodnight ("Nowadays").

Roxie's a free woman, but public interest in her has vanished now. She tries out for some shows but isn't impressing anyone. Velma, now also free as per the agreement with Harrison, witnesses one audition and tells her she's actually pretty good. She re-pitches the show idea for the two of them. Roxie says it would never work because she hates her. Velma says that show business is the one business where that doesn't matter. They both smile, and the movie ends with Velma and Roxie together on stage, starring in a smash show where they sing and dance, even using machine guns as props.


===

I didn't mention every musical number in the movie above, but one of them is Richard Gere tap dancing. He spent three months learning and practicing the art, and wound up learning it so well that the full sequence was shot in just a few hours. Renee Zellweger, meanwhile, had absolutely no singing or dancing training prior to this film.....Hugh Jackman was offered the Billy Flynn role but turned it down, saying at the time he felt he was too young for it. John Travolta was also offered the role at one point. Both later said they regretted passing on it.....Being set in 1920's Chicago, there's a LOT of cigarette smoking in the movie. It's believed this is the film that caused the Motion Picture Association of America to add "smoking" to the list of criteria when finalizing a PG/PG13/R rating.....When Roxie first enters the jail, she has a brief conversation with a prostitute played by Chita Rivera. Rivera starred as Velma Kelly in the original Broadway production.....Some of the women involved in the "Cell Block Tango" sequence are renowned choreographer Denise Faye, R&B singer Mya and a popular Russian entertainer named Ekaterina Chtchelkanova, who portrays the innocent inmate eventually hanged for her crime.

Critics and audiences loved Chicago, making it the most successful movie musical at the box office since...well, to be honest, since who-the-hell-knows when. It brought in over $170M at the North American box office and seemed like it was destined to be a frontrunner when awards season rolled around. Surely enough, it was. At the 75th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, Chicago had racked up a massive 13 nominations within 12 different categories, and won 6 Oscars. The defeats came in the categories of Original Song (there was a new tune written specifically for the film during the closing credits), Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Director (Rob Marshall), Supporting Actor (Reilly) and Lead Actress (Zellweger), as well as one of the two nominees for Supporting Actress (Latifah). Her fellow nominee, Zeta-Jones, did win, and she accepted the Oscar while VERY pregnant. There were actually odds being taken in Vegas as to whether or not she'd have the baby before or after the ceremony. The other wins came for Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Costume Design, Art/Set Direction, and Best Picture. That win was over Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist, none of which ever really had a shot of topping Chicago for the Best Picture statuette in my view. Chicago became the first movie musical to win Best Picture since 1968's Oliver!, and to be honest I'm not sure many people, including myself, ever thought a movie musical WOULD ever win Best Picture again. This one did, and now movie musicals are relevant again. That makes me damn happy.

Indeed, I love this movie. Love, love, love it. It's one of the best movie musicals I've ever seen, and no matter how many times I watch it, I get excited every time. There is no Oscar given for choreography, but if any movie ever deserved one, this one does. The staging and presentation are brilliant. I've never been the biggest Catherine Zeta-Jones fan, but she damn sure deserved her Oscar. She absolutely busted her ass in this film. Ditto for Zellweger, who gave a career-defining performance here that in my view was completely robbed of the Best Lead Actress award. Seriously, Nicole Kidman and her prosthetic nose in The Hours took the prize over Zellweger flopping around like a ventriloquist's dummy?! HUH?!?! Oh, wait, how about Richard Gere? He won the Lead Actor Golden Globe, and he's the third I'll classify as having completely busted his ass in this movie. He didn't even GET an Oscar nomination. HUH?!?! Reilly and Latifah also deserve praise for their excellent work here. Just an incredibly terrific collection of performances all around and a damn rollicking good time of a movie. If you haven't seen Chicago, you're missing out on a gem.

No comments:

Post a Comment