I was there, I was really there, Michael Jackson was... but it made me realize that parents are the ones who make or break a "King": "Michael"

[Personal Satisfaction]

Ranking of 2026 Japanese-released films I enjoyed: 2/52
　　Story: ★★★★★★★★★★
　Characters: ★★★★★★★★★★
　　　　　Visuals: ★★★★★★★★★★
　　　　　Music: ★×20
Want to see in a theater: ★★★★★★★★★★

[Work Information]

　　　Original Title: Michael
　　Production Year: 2026
　　Country of Production: USA
　　　Distributor: Kino Films
　Running Time: 127 minutes
　Genre: Biography, Music, Human Drama
Source Material, etc.: Singer "Michael Jackson" (1958-2009)
Official Website: https://www.michael-movie.jp/

[Synopsis]

*Quoted from Eiga.com.
Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson) received strict lessons under his ambitious father Joseph (Colman Domingo) and achieved success at a young age as a member of the sibling group "The Jackson 5."
Eventually, he met the famous producer Quincy Jones (Kendrick Sampson) and, as a solo artist, created numerous historic masterpieces, quickly becoming the darling of the era.

However, behind that glory lay the loneliness of a precocious genius, the curse of a tyrannical father, and the figure of a human being struggling between love for his family and the vision overflowing within himself.

[Impressions]

Michael Jackson is a singer loved across races and borders, to the point where you wonder, "Is there anyone in this world who doesn't know him?!"
Even I, who haven't listened to Western music at all for a long time, know his name, his face, and several of his songs and dances.
In other words, that's how much he has blended into daily life, or rather, how high his level of recognition is.
The fact that after his death, Madonna said, "Michael Jackson was a human being but damn he was a king. Long live the king," speaks volumes about his greatness.
This work is a biographical film about that Michael Jackson.
I watched it at a special advance screening this weekend.
The singing and dance performances were so masterful that I strongly, strongly recommend watching it in a large format like IMAX or Dolby rather than a regular screen!

<The "Real Michael" and the many masterpieces dwelling in his nephew>

In most cases, you wouldn't even think of watching a biographical film unless you knew the subject, and since they are basically drawn according to historical facts, unless they lived a very turbulent life, they tend to proceed rather flatly and can be a bit boring, right?
But with Michael Jackson, there is absolutely no need to worry about that.
He boasts outstanding name recognition, the whole world knows the greatness of his performances, and many people must be interested in his life, which was scandalous in various ways.
So, I think it's a guaranteed win from the moment you choose Michael Jackson as the subject (commercially).

And the most notable thing about this work is the person who played Michael.
His name is Jaafar Jackson.
His father is Jermaine Jackson, a member of The Jackson 5 and the fourth child of the Jackson family.
So, he is Michael's actual nephew (by the way, Michael was the eighth child).
At this point, it can only be called destiny.
Who would have thought that a person with the same blood as Michael would play Michael?

Honestly, Jaafar's face doesn't look like Michael's.
But there are moments when you feel Michael himself in him on the screen.
Of course, it's influenced by makeup, hairstyles, and costumes, but when you watch every move—the way he carries himself, his gestures, and the perfection of his singing and dancing—so brilliantly traced, you get the feeling that he is truly there.

The many masterpieces he performs.
I was happy to hear not only songs from after his solo career began, such as "Thriller" (1982), "Beat It" (1983), and "Billie Jean" (1983), but also songs from The Jackson 5 era like "ABC" (1970), "I'll Be There" (1970), and "Ben" (1972).
Personally, I've liked "Ben" since I heard it in the old TBS drama "Aikurushii" (2005), so I got super excited the moment it played!

<Parents are the ones who make or break a "King">

However, behind the glamorous star path, what torments Michael to no end is the toxic parenting of his father, Joseph Jackson (Colman Domingo).
In his single-minded desire to escape poverty, he conducts Spartan singing training that allows for no compromise from his children, and if they even try to talk back, he mercilessly strikes even the youngest, Michael, with a belt.
It's a complicated feeling to think that Michael's success was due not only to his innate, rare talent but also to this strict special training by his father.

I think the reason Michael seems to have a habit of not being able to say important things in his own words in the film is because of the trauma caused by this father.
Because he couldn't talk back strongly, he ended up participating in a tour led by his father that he didn't even want to do, which led to the accident where he suffered severe burns to his head during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.
In a situation where it wouldn't be strange for someone to snap and go home halfway through, I am in awe of Michael's action of re-examining his own reason for existence from there, resuming the tour, and seeing it through to the end.
That's when he finally manages to say "No" to his father.
By the way, it seems Michael became addicted to painkillers after using them for the severe pain and skin graft treatment from these burns (though that's a story for a little later).

Furthermore, even here, rather than worrying about Michael, who had been burned, the father was only concerned about the fate of the tour he was hosting.
Because he wanted to escape poverty, he had a strong sense that even Michael's achievements were his own, and the depiction of the whole family being fed up with him told the story of the father's runaway behavior.
His mother was his only ally, and she was the one who first noticed Michael's talent, but it made me realize that parents are the ones who make or break a "King."

<Loneliness always felt while being loved by many>

And what I felt throughout the entire film is Michael's bottomless loneliness.
Already a star from childhood, he felt the difference between himself and others, saying, "Kids my age want to take pictures with me."
Perhaps due to the busyness of being a star, there is no depiction of him playing with children of a similar age in his private life (though I don't know if that was actually the case).
Even after becoming an adult, there is a scene where he buys a Twister game to play with his brothers, but he gets turned down.
At that moment, my heart felt like it was being squeezed, wondering if there was no place for Michael even within his own family.
In the end, the fact that the only one Michael could be with without any ulterior motives was his pet chimpanzee, Bubbles, expresses the depth of his loneliness more than anything else.

I can't help but speculate that his visiting children in the hospital was not only out of pure kindness but also a reflection of the loneliness of not having friends of his own generation.

<So, with that said>

I'm not particularly a fan of Michael Jackson, but it was a film that I felt was tremendously interesting even for someone like me to watch.
It was a two-hour experience where I was overwhelmed by numerous performances that it's no exaggeration to call superhuman, and it has been crafted into a human drama worth watching that strikes the heart with the depth of the "darkness" behind the scenes—the conflict with his father and the loneliness of being a star—while getting excited about the glittering "light" part!
I definitely want you to watch this in IMAX.
And in an IMAX that boasts the largest size, at that (like Grand Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro or 109 Cinemas Osaka Expo City).
The moonwalk you see on that huge screen is exceptional!
Come to think of it, was the fact that Janet Jackson didn't appear at all due to adult circumstances?

Also, there seems to be a rumor that this movie is a two-part series.
Maybe that's why it ends so abruptly.
If there is a sequel, I want to see it without too much of a gap.