I watched West Side Story (2021) with my friend El late last January. I remember having seen the original film in high school or just before high school with my sister, on my dad's recommendation, and both of us really hated it LOL. I can't remember if we had any opinions on the film itself, but we just thought the love story was so stupid and Tony was a huge idiot. When I heard there would be a new West Side Story, I didn't think I'd see it since I cared so little for the original.

But El - a musical disliker - said it was one of the few she wanted to see, and I - a musical enjoyer - ended up just giving in and watching with her. My sister had seen the 2021 one last June and said there was a guy in it she thought I'd like but I'm notoriously terrible at taking recommendations. So it took me that long to see it.

I enjoyed it much more than I thought - the cinematography was divine, and the cast (save for Tony, AGAIN, somehow) was great. I still didn't care for the love story, but the other songs were much more memorable this time around, and I loved the little context changes they added to make this remake different.

from weaver-z on tumblr.

AND MY SISTER WAS RIGHT. I'm such a sucker for a tough guy accent and a lean frame, so I love love loved the guy who played Riff.

But afterwards I forgot all about it, until earlier this month where... I don't know? I just ended up watching clips of it on Youtube? And somehow that led me to fanfiction (I wasn't surprised that existed, but surprised it existed for the specific pair I was looking for), and then I found out the guy who played Riff, Mike Faist, was also in Dear Evan Hansen, so I'd already heard his voice before, so I started watching clips of that too, and finding video compilations made by theatre kids, and it was all downhill from there.

taken from my twitter.

I feel so silly having a celebrity crush again - not because it's shameful but because I've had a long long streak of obsessions with fictional characters (illustrated, not played by actors) that... I honestly feel is healthier (at least for me) than liking celebrities lmao. For some reason I'm so much less embarrassed kicking my legs and yelling into my pillow when it comes to literal lines on paper than when it's a real life guy who I will never speak to. I mean I'll never speak to either of them, but at least for the fictional character that's a guarantee.

Anyway. I'm just going to enjoy it, I guess - it's a welcome little break from work and my more generative (and consequently more stressful) hobbies. At least my sister is pleased that she was correct.