Michael, the new Michael Jackson biopic from director Antoine Fuqua, has been surprisingly divisive among critics and fans, much like the man himself. The loudest criticism of the film is how it sugar coats many of Michael’s most bizarre quirks, including his need to have exotic animals as pets and his obsession with Peter Pan, even as an adult.
In one scene, when the legendary chimp Bubbles is delivered to Jackson Manor and Michael excitedly rushes outside to meet him, the other family members stand watching and chuckling with good-natured amusement, as if Michael were a little kid running to catch an ice cream truck.
It all comes dangerously close to turning the film into a wacky sitcom called “That’s our Michael!” rather than focusing on why in the hell an adult Michael wants to surround himself with exotic pets and stuffed animals. Is he making up for a childhood he never really had?
The great Smokey Robinson once said that Michael was a paradox because when he was a boy he was a man and when he was a man he was a boy and (oh boy!) does the film drive that point home. The film’s not all candy and rainbows though because we do see the dark side of the family, primarily the draconian and abusive parenting of Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the family who was obsessed with getting them famous, even if they had to perform and rehearse 24 hours a day to the point of collapse.
Played with beastly nostril-flaring menace by Colman Domingo, Joe keeps everyone in line through fear, never shy about delivering some Old Testament-style punishment with his belt if one of the kids questions him or refuses to perform. In the film, Michael seems to be on the receiving end of his fury the most, but I imagine all the kids (even the girls Rebbie, Latoya and Janet) probably got hit a lot too. Joe’s always a menace and even when he’s not on camera, you feel his suffocating presence.
The highlight of the film is Jaafar Jackson as Michael, who’s absolutely spectacular in the role. Jaafar is Michael’s real-life nephew (he’s the son of Jermaine Jackson) and he channels Michael with his voice, expressions and dance moves. He could have made or broken the film and thankfully he carries it with the same dynamic energy of his uncle.
The centerpieces of the film are the performances and the film’s like a greatest hits of Michael’s early career, starting with Michael and the Jackson 5 in 1969 (where he’s also played excellently by young actor Juliano Krue Valdi) to his solo fame in 1984. There’s also an epilogue that takes place in 1988.
Included in the film are recreations of the “Thriller” video, Michael’s one-of-a-kind performance of “Billie Jean” at Motown’s 25th Anniversary Celebration and Michael performing “Human Nature” and other hits in concert with his brothers on their last tour together.
This is where the film really dazzles. For those (like me) who never got to see Michael in concert, it gives you a front seat to Michael’s performances and also takes you through his creative process. If every one of these joyful sequences don’t get you grooving, call the EMTs because you probably don’t have a pulse. In the screening I attended, people were literally dancing in the aisles with those incredibly infectious songs.
I’ve heard that there’s going to be a sequel to the film which will cover the rest of Michael’s life. I imagine it’ll be much darker than this film as it will cover the bleaker years of his life and career.
I kind of wish they’d stop here, with Michael at the peak of his career shortly after the massive release of “Thriller”, full of youth, creative energy and altruism, not only wanting to make great music but sweetly (and naively) thinking it will save the world.
Maybe he was right. One moment of the film shows Michael singing “Human Nature” on stage amidst a dazzling light show of lasers and flickering candles and it instantly transported me back to my teens in1984, where I listened to the Thriller album every Saturday night as I got ready for another crazy, fun-filled night out with friends full of music, adventure and (hopefully) some romance.
Time machines do exist and they’re as close as a song.
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