Spike Lee’s New Michael Jackson Movie Honors the Artistry of the King of Pop

by **MJ Mod** Fri Feb 12, 2016 12:37 am

Spike Lee’s New Michael Jackson Movie Honors the Artistry of the King of Pop
Carrie Battan
2/6/2016

Any tween star working today has figured out that the most efficient way to reach a more mature arena is through public rebellion, either manufactured or genuine. Disney darlings pick up drug habits; they make unwise relationship decisions; they adopt pet monkeys; they shed inhibitions on social media. Then they perform reverse image rehabilitation, and they emerge on the other side either permanently tarnished or reborn and ready to address adult audiences. It was not always like this. At least, it was not like this for Michael Jackson when he ascended, in the nineteen-seventies, transitioning from precocious tween to full-fledged entertainment icon.

This point comes across vividly in Spike Lee’s new documentary about Jackson, “Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall,” which débuted at Sundance last month and will air on Showtime this weekend. A close read of the period from Jackson’s early success, alongside his siblings, to his transformative solo record “Off the Wall,” in 1979, the film portrays Jackson as an artist who came into adulthood by observing carefully and asking questions (as in, to Sammy Davis, Jr.: “How’d you do that one dance move?”). Lee builds a monument not only to Jackson’s singular talent but also to his capacity to leverage this talent properly—by way of rigorous planning and extraordinarily hard work.

There is a point in the film where Jackson and his brothers are struggling for legitimacy after their likenesses have been used in a cartoon series. These were the days of disco, so in order to make themselves more relevant, more respected, the Jacksons recorded a song—“Shake Your Body”—that harnessed the dominant musical style of the time and advanced it with a dense and unconventional percussion. Lee’s film is full of music geekery and recording-studio minutiae, and he dedicates a few minutes to the story of how the song’s rhythm evolved throughout its writing and recording process. When examining an artist like Jackson, no detail (say, the subtlety of a horn line) is too small to be celebrated. Questlove, a drummer and d.j. by trade but a music historian by nature, is, unsurprisingly, one of the film’s prominent talking heads. He describes, quite poignantly, the effect of looping the song’s opening notes, which created a tension akin to “holding back twelve pit bulls.”

“From Motown to Off the Wall” is Lee’s second film about Jackson—he detailed the making of the album “Bad” in a 2012 documentary—and, in both, his mission has been to refocus attention on Jackson’s art rather than on the scandal and speculation that have fogged his legacy. Dense with present-day interviews and live footage from the late seventies, the film is adamant in avoiding salacious topics, be they familial strain or Jackson’s first nose job, which occurred during the making of “Off the Wall.” Jackson was known for crying while singing the song “She’s Out of My Life”—which was originally slated for Frank Sinatra—and there was constant speculation about which woman could have driven Jackson to tears. Lee shows brief footage of the various women Jackson was rumored to have been involved with, but he moves on quickly, as if to shame the viewer a bit for being tempted by tabloid fluff in the face of such overwhelming artistic richness.

Sounds a bit dry, right? It might have been, if this film were about anyone else. But the abundance and the passion of the figures interviewed about Jackson—a mix of people directly involved with his career (his brothers, the record executives, producers) and famous friends of Lee who speak rapturously about Jackson’s influence (Kobe Bryant, Pharrell, Rosie Perez)—is energizing. And then there is the footage—the continuous parade of sequined jumpsuits, and the body wearing them moving about in such familiar, yet still novel and awe-inspiring, patterns. There is hardly anything more hypnotizing than a display of talent and vision, and there was hardly anybody with more talent and vision than Jackson. He didn’t need to pull stunts, because his art was big enough.

“From Motown to Off the Wall” arrives at an opportune time: Spike Lee is the subject of much media attention related to discussions of the Oscars whiteness problem; the Grammys, meanwhile, will be broadcast next weekend. Toward the end of the film, Lee hits a timely, activist note, reminding viewers that “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” was nominated for only one award at the Grammys—for Best Male R. & B. Performance, an award that is given off-air while viewers watch commercials or local programming. This is maddening, and notable, of course, but, in the spirit of the film—and of Lee’s dedication to addressing Jackson’s work head-on—he doesn’t bother to linger on this fact. There are more pressing things that require the film’s attention: “Thriller” is on its way.

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