Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2021: Mike Faist and David Alvarez in West Side Story

Mike Faist did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite receiving a BAFTA nomination, for portraying Riff nor did David Alvarez receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Bernardo in West Side Story. 

Steven Spielberg's West Side Story is the rare remake that just simply improves on the original, in its musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet via 50's New York street gangs. 

Mike Faist and David Alvarez represent, if not in a way lead, the decidedly less romantic side of the story as the heads of the two gangs featured in the story, the Jets and the Sharks respectively. Where I've been told the actors in these roles in the original films were triple threats, actors/dancers/singers, the actual performances seemed a bit less threatening. That is not the case though for Mike Faist and David Alvarez who right in the opening orchestral number as we see the two gangs clash, these guys are ready to make a statement with their performances on all three fronts. And really let's just talk physically first, and I don't mean anything about dancing at this moment. These two guys just seem to bring so much more to these roles than was the case in the original film. Alvarez carries himself with this controlled intensity in the opening scene, just his stance in itself speaks power, and speaks towards Bernardo who in this version is also a boxer. Faist embodies a fighter too, but just of a different sort. There's an innate kind of scrapper just from the way he holds himself, moves his jacket, holds his belt, even the way he holds or smokes a cigarette. Faist suggests a guy whose been through more than a few things in his life. Both Faist and Alvarez embody an innate kind of hostility in themselves, fitting to two gang leaders, and really this is just from their initial physical performance alone. 

But hey let's get them to actually speak, which occurs when the police come in to stop the Jets and the Sharks from fighting, and we get some striking if very different charisma from both actors. Both though clearly establish themselves though in very different ways. Alvarez is all about this personal power and strength of his being. When he stands up to Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll) Alvarez's delivery is precise and deliberate. He emphasizes the character's very much standing as this force and fierce leader. He speaks with both this discontent in his place but also this pride in his Puerto Rican heritage and leads a song verbalizing such, Alvarez creates a clear sense of purpose and power of self as related to his heritage in Bernardo. Faist obviously is far less physically imposing, to the point that Faist purposefully accentuated it all the more reflecting gang members from the time with almost aggressively slender frames. And I have to say there is something incredible about Faist, as everything about him seems like he stepped right out of the 50's. Faist even as such has just as much power of presence, just in an entirely different way. Faist rather does it within his unique voice and his cutting when always saying the right or perhaps wrong remark and the right or wrong time. Faist's delivery is something special in that the timing of the comic and sardonic remarks are pitch perfect, but the incisive nature of them is what is so fascinating. When he speaks he's owning his space, even for a moment, and even, unlike Alvarez who looks right at the officer, looking away Faist makes Riff just as confrontational in his more indirect sneaky way. 

Where Riff really is kind of just a punk in the 61 film who wants to start trouble, there is far more here both written by Tony Kushner and performed by Mike Faist. We see this from his first scene with Tony (Ansel Elgort) as he's trying to bring him back into the Jets. Faist's performance really is this brilliant balancing act as he doesn't make you instantly hate Riff, even though what he is doing amounts to racial hatred, and how he pulls this off is quite something. What Faist does is so articulates the humanity of the character, as low as his character is in many ways. In the scene with Tony in one part he's just inviting his friend and every delivery of him trying to get Tony to come along Faist speaks just as earnestly as he can as one friend to another. There's really even a certain vulnerability about it trying to make sure his friend is part of it, even as he wants him to come to the dance really to stand with him as he sets up the rumble with the Sharks. Faist shows very much that he needs Tony not just as pseudo muscle, or a cooler head, but more so for a friend. When Tony initially refuses Faist's reaction is tremendous just in his little head shake as he moves it is almost a man who needs to switch to another emotion or he might cry. Riff explaining basically his motivation as seeing everything of his being taken away by people he doesn't like and they don't like him, leaving only the Jets is really the key to the character, made so by Faist's stunning performance. His delivery of the subtext of the line is so powerful because Faist articulates in it this mix of hate for these people, sadness for what is being destroyed, loneliness as he notes "who don't like me" but the  it comes around to this pride for the Jets. The latter element denoting this inherent desperation of someone who needs to hold onto anything at this point, even if that thing might be nothing more than a street gang. 

What is so great in this adaptation is this version spends more time in granting also the sense of the Sharks and we see this in Bernardo's home life with his girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose) and his sister Maria (Rachel Zegler). Alvarez wisely doesn't overplay the gangster or overprotective brother as he brings Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera) over to take Maria to the dance. Alvarez accentuates a real warmth as he speaks words of encouragement towards Chino even explaining that he should stay away from any gang life. Alvarez's way of saying its "stupid but he has to do it" conveys his own motivation as this sort of prideful requirement and what he sees as a needed defense, even as he tries to downplay it. His words of encouraging Chino on how to win over his sister, Alvarez is wonderfully sincere and suggests the brother who does genuinely want what is best for his sister. And even in his following moment with Maria and Anita, Alvarez suggests what is a loving family as far as he can go. He does bring a bit of macho bluster as he tells Maria to watch out for the "gringos" at the dance, but even there Alvarez plays into the bluster as not entirely intense in the moment. And even the glimpse of his relationship with Anita, you see a sense of their strong chemistry and just understanding of the lust and love for one another. Alvarez is terrific in this scene because in the moment he shows within his home there is a sense of comfort, the problem for him is everything outside of it. 

 

The first scene that they directly share are as Bernardo and Riff are discussing the specifics of the rumble at the dance. Faist and Alvarez are great together and in a strange way have fantastic chemistry in the moment of discussing how to violently fight one another. Both Faist and Alvarez though suggest where both men feel they are in their element, which is threatening one another and trying just that bit more of bravado. Again with the contrasting styles of Alvarez's more stoic intensity against Faist's slippery intensity for the lack of a better description. The two together in way show the way both men are of the same mind in this way, and articulate the way it is a shame that they are odds, when in fact the reasons for their woes lay elsewhere since in a way you see a connection between them as strange as it may seem. The two so successfully though articulate the conflict both in themselves and towards each other. There is a far greater drama here than I'll say in the 61 version, where with Alvarez and Faist you really understand where both men are coming from, whether or not you agree with them, making that conflict between them far more potent. The more there is of them the deeper that conflict gets. Alvarez is again fantastic as he "counsels" Maria to avoid gringos for her husband even as he apologizes for harassing Maria for having danced with Tony. Alvarez avoids one note, in fact he's anything but one note, in articulating really moments of familial warmth, almost flirtation fighting with Anita, and the more direct over the top macho older brother posturing when being overprotective. All of it one scene, and all of it making Bernardo the overprotective brother, but also something far more complex than just the overprotective brother. 

Contrasting the loving family setting of Bernardo, though it is never specifically shown, the desperate existence of Riff seems noted in Faist's performance. This is perhaps most bluntly revealed in the scene where Riff goes to get a gun for the rumble. Riff outlines his plan for it with Faist speaking every word with an unearned assurance of its protection, even as he ignores that it might be some kind of mutually assured destruction. When the seller points it at Riff's head to suggest the severity of it, Faist, with an improvised move, pushes his head further against the barrel and says "might as well". Faist is amazing in the moment not only because it captures so well the intensity of the scene, but as he says those words it is with an absolute belief in them. Faist isn't playing it that Riff is trying to act tough in the moment but rather genuinely thinks his death would be as about as good as his life is anyways. Faist wearing that desperation that is behind Riff as basically a badge of truth of the man, and while we never see what Riff's home is, everything about Faist's performance suggests there isn't much of one, if one at all. Faist showing entirely that Tony and the Jets are everything to him, because they're really all that he has in life. I love though the contrast after the gun buying scene to Riff and the Jets basically playing with the gun as they would if they were a bunch of boys in the playground playing cops and robbers. Faist's performance creating a believable hypocrisy the previous scene, by playing it as a boy with a brand new toy.  With still Faist suggesting this fixation on the gun carrying it as a need, a fascination with it, as again the protection for the scared kid that is Riff behind it all. 

Of course I've given all this praise and have not even mentioned their singing and dancing yet, which was intentional as frankly Bernardo and Riff would've compelling as is, just as they are without singing or dancing. Having said that, the actual musical elements of their performances are fantastic and only make them all the better. I love Alvarez's dancing with DeBose as you really get a sense of their red hot chemistry just in their dancing together, which is just wonderful. Not to diminish anyone else, but Faist's dancing here I think is especially something remarkable with how it is used within the film, and what he brings with his performance. Faist is absolutely magnetic in every single dance number or moment he gets. The fluidity of his performance and just the dynamism of every one of his movements is just incredible particularly as someone it feels so attached to his character as technically a street thug. The greatest moment in this regard being his brief solo dance at the end of "cool" as kind of this mockery towards Tony, after Tony tries to take Riff's gun. Faist manages to make a dance move this act of dominance, and not seem ridiculous, but rather absolutely captivating and wholly impactful in that intent. That is an achievement all in its own, and just reveals the greatness of Faist's whole portrayal of Riff. I mean I'll say the idea of the singing and dancing gang member, is inherently a silly idea, but it is all about how you pull it off and the quality of the technique. The technique of it being that of mastery in the work of Alvarez and especially Faist. 

 

The final confrontation between the two is absolutely stellar. This as you take out their posturing and what you see in both Faist and Alvarez's performances is this searing rather illogical emotion. Though I love the difference between the two as Tony interrupts the rumble. Alvarez putting in all the left over bluster to "protect" his sister, and Faist going a mile a minute in his head as a man who has no idea what even to say or do in the situation; Faist so articulately conveys a complete mess of emotions all at once. The knife fight being absolutely gripping as Faist expresses such terror in his face now that he's actually in a life or death situation, against Alvarez who portrays a desperate kind of violence in their choreographed knife fight. The literal final moments of both performances being amazing moments of acting from both. Alvarez's immediate shame at seeing what he is done is powerful albeit brief moment of tragic regret. Faist though does leave the most painful impression of all in his reaction to being stabbed this bright smile as though it is what Riff wants, while his eyes fill with tears of a man who doesn't want to die after-all and it is absolutely devastating. Faist is simply outstanding in this final moment, however that is simply true for every moment Faist is onscreen. Both actors here represent the thrill of this new version by taking the concept further than what was done in the original film. They are effortlessly compelling as singers and dancers, which is already a lot of an accomplishment in itself, however there is the next step there in mixing those elements naturally with their acting that delivers two tragic portraits of men who allow their lives to be defined by hate.

(Alvarez)

(Faist)