Let’s be honest, musicals are hard to like. That’s just a straight up fact that they seriously almost never work out well enough to be coherent films, or films with great songs. There have always been musicals even in the 1930s, films such as The Wizard of Oz, A Star is Born, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and many more have consistently remained SUPER iconic films. Yet the genre as a whole never evolved, musicals became stagnant and essentially stopped existing. However, 2003 saw the release of Chicago and then, everything changed.
How to Stream or Download Chicago (2002)
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button at the end of the review.
The Movie Review
There have always been films that mix the surreal with the real aspects of the world, however, there aren’t many that do so like Chicago. This is the tale of wannabe artists and dancers who have either become convicted criminals or people who have simply gotten falsely accused and have been sent up to jail.
The story follows Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly as the two main protagonists. These two murderesses are in jail together, awaiting trial in the 1920’s Chicago area. However, upon realizing that the people’s voice is what gets convicts saved or killed in the prison system, they fight for the fame with the help of a lawyer who will use their fame to further his own agendas.
The film’s narrative seems like a straight forward narrative thriller in the line of The Shawshank Redemption perhaps, however, that isn’t the case here. This is a full out musical, and the film goes above and beyond into mixing its cabaret elements into the film’s setting.
You see, the film is based mainly inside of a prison or in different locales, yet when they are introducing a character or a big story moment takes place in the film, the production changes to a cabaret like massive set full of lights and colors. This is where most of the dance numbers take place, and boy oh boy are they glorious.
Each and every song in this film is sung wonderfully, and the choreography of their musical numbers is by far untouched in the genre. Chicago is THE film you should be watching if you want to understand how to frame a musical film, and how to Choreograph a proper dance sequence.
The film constantly challenges itself, the dance numbers get more and more abysmal and the production gets bigger and scarier, as the film goes on. The best thing about this production is the cinematography. However, before talking about that, we need to mention the actors and their fantastic performances.
You see, Chicago is one of those movies that is packed to the brim with A-List actors who were doing Broadway and way before Hollywood. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellwegger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu and many more of the cast here are absolutely heart throbbing.
The two leading ladies of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellwegger are indeed the main show stealers here. Director Rob Marashall directs these actors in a way that they can showcase their femininity and their aggressive nature without having to let go of the detailed personalities that make them so unique.
These characters have actual stories that are brought to life by the fantastic performances and the incredible singing of these actors.
Now to talk about cinematography, this film had a production and art design unlike any other. On one hand you had a set that was completely revolved around the prison system, it looked and felt like the worst place to be. However, when the song started and the film went full art house into its cabaret form, this film became one of the prettiest and most well-choreographed movies I have ever seen.
From luscious and gorgeous colors, fantastic camera angles, each song capturing the mood of the criminals in question, Chicago is a film that truly immerses you into its world and makes you care about its characters even though they aren’t the nicest people in the world.
The Bottom Line
I personally think that Chicago is by far one of the best Oscar winning films of all time, simply due to how artistic it is. The Oscars have constantly been mistakenly giving films awards, such as Green Book which won a few years ago as a massive disappointment. However, in 2003 Oscars were on fleek and giving this film the award for best picture was by far one of the best decisions that they had made.
