So I saw this movie back in high school as an accompaniment to reading Romeo & Juliet, but Jess hadn’t seen it, so poof, now she has, and I’ve seen it 25 years later.

So one thing that’s extremely clear is that watching it in the actual widescreen aspect ratio in HD is an extremely different thing from watching a VHS pan ‘n’ scan on shitty 25” TV in class. I wouldn’t have said it was a visually memorable movie at all, but oh yeah it is, with lush, saturated sets and outfits. Jess said it reminded her of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and it really does.

The biggest problem with the movie is that while it has good intentions around trying to depict the Puerto Rican immigrant experience — characters talk about the racism that they experience, the cops are shown as racist assholes, there is some complexity to it, particularly with Rita Moreno’s character — it’s also pretty clearly espousing a vision of American assimilation, and then plus since everyone who made the thing was white, it’s chock-full of stereotypes. And of course the prominent brownface casting is just one of those yikes things.

(They’re apparently working on making a 2020 remake of the movie that’s supposed to be less problematic, and more authentic to the Puerto Rican experience, and I’m sure that checks notes director Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner are precisely the right people to do that.)

Beyond that, the other main flaw is that the love story is absolutely preposterous. Like even by the standards of movie romances where you fall in love instantly, it’s preposterous. Their relationship consists of: 1) meeting at a dance where they exchange like a handful of words and kiss, 2) meeting in an alley where they exchange a handful of words and kiss, 3) meeting in a dress shop where they exchange a handful of words and then stage a mock wedding(!!), 4) him KILLING HER BROTHER and her finding out about it, and then they fuck, which seems a little off in terms of the reaction that literally anyone would have in that situation.

Anyway: gorgeous production, catchy af songs, but this should probably be seen as a period piece that needs a contextualizing intro.