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Michael Jackson (center) in "Michael Jackson's This Is It"

Michael Jackson's This Is It NOW PLAYING

PG (2009) Publication Date Oct. 30, 2009

Pay some attention to the man behind the curtain. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" -- like the life and career of the man it documents -- is a hall-of-mirrors investigation of extraordinary talent, emotionally stunted personality, a performer's process and the cruel mistress of celebrity.

By its very existence, this unprecedented concert (rehearsal) film proves the public's insatiable desire to obliterate the boundaries celebrities try so hard to protect, but it also serves as a powerful performance version of a last will and testament.

"Michael Jackson's This is It" compiles material culled from a reported 120 hours of rehearsal footage shot as reference and archive material. No doubt some of it was destined to one day be a DVD extra, but when Jackson died on June 25, the footage instantly became a treasure trove, the only record of a massive production only three weeks away from starting a sold-out 50-city tour. Though Jackson hadn't embarked on a comparable enterprise for more than a decade, the film makes one thing abundantly clear: The "This Is It" concert would have been quite a show.

The film we're left with is only a sketch of what the concert would have been. Stitched-together takes from various HD and "consumer-grade" video sources make "This Is It" the "JFK" of concert movies, complete with

switching film stocks and the creepy if historic "don't look away" quality of the Zapruder film. Kenny Ortega ("High School Musical"), who was in the process of co-directing the concert with Jackson, agreed to direct the concert film as a tribute to the star and a gift "for the fans." He has succeeded in both aims, though the film's unavoidably piecemeal quality may turn off those happily accustomed to the modern music scene's obsessive production polish.

For those of us turned off by the airbrushed, artificially enhanced quality of most musical products, the rough edges make "This Is It" all the more fascinating, not out of prurience (those looking for anything remotely gossip-worthy can stay home) but rather for the fly-on-the-wall view of the artist at work.

Jackson here is as unguarded as he comes. The King of Pop comes across not as a diva but as a surprisingly chivalrous professional. Ortega doesn't hide the scarecrow-thin Jackson's eccentricity -- in fact, the director flaunts it at times -- but the emphasis is on the concert's celebration of dance, awesome musicianship and Jackson's legacy of contributions to both.

Two hours spent in the cavernous claustrophobia of the bizarrely lit Staples Center and The Forum (Ortega at one point half-jokes: "What day is it? What time is it?") may help the audience to empathize with a celebrity's otherworldly existence. Despite the scope -- and the inclusion of film footage and special-effects montages representing the show's spectacle -- the film has a potent intimacy.

No segment hits harder than Jackson's solo rehearsal of "Billie Jean" as his dancers stand below and cheer him on. Though watching the scene is akin to being invited to a private after-hours disco on Mars, Jackson's swift, smooth moves serve as stunning proof of his undimmed talent. With false modesty, he concludes, "At least we got a feel of it," a sentiment fans will take to heart at the multiplex.

Rated PG for suggestive choreography and scary images. 1 hour, 51 minutes.

- Peter Canavese