Bittersweet. Haunting, even.

These words describe “”This Is It,”” the documentary that showcases rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson in preparation for his “”This Is It”” tour before his untimely passing in June.

The documentary allowed longer glimpses of Jackson behind the scenes. He comes across as reserved, with many flashes of humor and light scoldings, that as he says, “”comes from (a) place of love.”” On screen, his remarkable energy is adjacent with the undeniable reality of his frailty.

In this movie, you see a man who could perform, dance and still hang with the backup dancers likely half his age; a man that had hands-on involvement in the details of his own show. And seeing this, the audience can’t help but wonder about the pressures and the obstacles that seemed to weigh him down.

Though Jackson had performed some of his routines countless times, it was still amazing to see how crisp and sharp his dancing was. Jackson directed musicians to let the music “”bathe in the moonlight”” so that when dancing, he truly felt the movements.

Furthermore, Jackson was set to perform a lot of his killer hits, some of which were remixed with excellent special effects. New additions to “”Thriller”” were shot in 3-D and “”Smooth Criminal”” was extended.   

Surprisingly a little bit of “”Threatened”” from his Invincible album makes the cut as does songs from the HIStory album. But no songs from his 1979 breakthrough classic Off the Wall seemed to be in the show. However, judging by the hyped reactions from cast and crew of the show in the rehearsals, those details are minor.

Can you imagine Jackson performing with the energy of the crowd? And a reported 50 shows? Alas, it will never be. Bittersweet.