Question: Should they do more movie musicals using live singing? Will this technique/style reinvigorate the movie musical genre, which is fairly moribund?
Saw it and loved it. Disappointed in Russell Crowe though. I expected his singing to be a weak spot, and it was… But was surprised to find his whole performance lacking. Where was Javert’s passion in his convictions? Where was his self righteousness? Big missed opportunity with what is one of the best characters of book and musical alike.
Otherwise… loved the cast. the direction didn’t bother me. changes to the songs didn’t bother me. Loved the non-studio-recorded singing. impressed that they fit in most everything from such a loooong musical… even Gavroche’s end… which is often cut from stage performances.
Kneejerk reaction is yes. This made other recent musicals feel like a badly-lipsynched episode of Glee.
On the other hand… the director obviously used the technique to showcase the actors emotions as they sing through horrible moments in their characters’ lives. It’ll get Anne Hathaway an Oscar but I’m not sure the technique would have helped a movie like Rent or Phantom of the Opera.
The live singing was fantastic. The issue I had was that the acting overshadowed the melody and turned a lot of the songs into talk-singing rather than anthems. They could have given just as strong a performance without killing the songs, by emoting through the notes rather than over them.
YES! At least, I hope so. The best part of musicals on stage is seeing/hearing people *act *through song. That’s utterly lost in the modern movie musical, where, as one of the Les Mis actors pointed out, you’re recording the songs often months before you even meet your other actors.
If nothing else, I hope it reassures directors that they can turn down the production elements and allow some muddied less-than-autotune-perfect singing, even if it’s prerecorded. I watched Guys And Dolls again last night, and had that thought about Brando’s performance. It’s not perfect, singing wise, but he puts some heart and emotion into it, and it’s allowed to stand as is, and it makes a less than great singer into a pretty damn good character.
Gosh I really wanted to like this movie. I wanted to be moved and tear up and all that. But I must report that the whole thing just didn’t work for me. I found myself saying “pick up the pace” from early on. To me it looked like what happens when you let the actors direct themselves. I was constantly aware of the actors trying too hard. The one exception, strangely enough, was Sacha Baron Cohen. He underplayed his delivery, rather than amp up the schtick. I also felt that they lost some of the melody of the music by emoting through the singing. Too much weeping - I was always taught to let the audience do the weeping, don’t do it for them.
The studio/production company will be FOOLS to try to court a Best Actress nomination for Hathaway.
If she’s nominated for Best Supporting Actress, I’d say she’s all but guaranteed to win. An ambitious grasp at Best Actress, when some- possibly not insignificant- number of Academy voters will surely debit her points for the brevity of the role, would be throwing away a guaranteed Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
I liked a lot about it. I started crying when Colm showed up the first time, and sniffled my way through the rest.
I’ve always been impressed with the musical’s reduction of the book plot. A lot of the changes made (from the novel) were made for reasons of pace or functional staging. That said, I really appreciated that when the movie made changes to the stage musical plot, they frequently reverted back to the book plot. For instance,
Eponine died saving Marius’ life
Enjolras and Grantaire died last, in the Cafe ABC
and
The spirit of the Bishop of Digne was present at Valjean’s deathbed. Of course he was! He cared about Valjean’s soul. Why would Eponine’s ghost show up for a stranger’s deathbed?
The close ups quickly became distracting to me. I think some larger views would have helped. They went to the trouble of putting bullet holes in the walls of the Cafe. Seeing a hunched figure of Marius against the backdrop of the empty cafe would have been really effective.
Not that it would have helped Crowe much, by why the overcast sky during Stars?
Never read the book, have zero familiarity with Les Miserables going into it.
I thought it was an amazingly well done high school play.
I’m with your niece and against everyone else because I thought Javert was one of the most intriguing characters.
Eponine stole my heart, though. When she and Marius had their song on the barricade I didn’t give a shit about Cosette.
AMAZING! There were “chills down my back” moments…Amanda Seyfried blew my mind as Cosette. Ditto with Anne Hathaway as Fantine…
Sasha Baron’s Master of the House wasn’t amazing. Although did anyone else catch the in joke of him using a fake limb to push down on the meat grinder? (homage to him in Sweeny Todd)
I have his autograph! He’s somewhat of a Broadway star, saw him in Next To Normal.
I know of two orgional cast Broadway cast crossovers…Colm of course, but Frances Rufelle, who was the orgional Eponine played one of the Lovely Ladies…were there any other orgional cast apperances?
and I am going to go see this again. I went with my sister. She was “meh” but then she hates musicals.
My parents went the next night, and I asked if I could go along with them…LOL.
While I didn’t cry all the time, I also thought Javert was one of the best characters, and loved his scenes. And yes, for me Éponine was a more interesting character than Cosette (and even Fantine, I didn’t get as emotionally attached to Fantine as I did to Éponine).
Yeah, I don’t know how the characters come across in the original novel but from the first time I saw the stage show- decades ago- I’ve thought Cosette/Eponine to be problematic because the audience will always root for Eponine (or at least all members of the audience that aren’t prissy little Cosettes themselves).
Again, based on the stage musical/new film, we have every reason to like Eponine and no reason to like Cosette- and Marius is just an asshole.
Marius falls in love with Cosette because she’s pretty.
Eponine is devoted to Marius but it’s not a simple matter of us pitying her because her love is unrequited- add to her devotion that she is a likeable resourceful young woman who actually takes action, shows ingenuity, not to mention the deep personal integrity she must possess to somehow be a good person despite being raised by the two horrible people who are her parents.
And! She gets a decent song!
And Cosette is pretty.
Look, I’m not saying I dislike Cosette. It’s just that, other than the fact that she is pretty, there isn’t anything to like about her (and as far as the whole “pretty” thing goes anyway, this new film is the first time in the entire history of Les Miserables that the actress playing Cosette actually is prettier than the actress playing Eponine- though the actress playing Eponine is plenty attractive which added to her many other admirable quialities is well enough that she should have Marius’s attention).
Fuck you, Marius, you classist fucktard discounting a wonderful woman who works in the service industry in favor of a "pretty girl’ daughter of a rich man though she has no discenable admirable characteristics- do you even understand what this revolution is about? I can’t wait until you find out what a naïve frigid little clam Cosette is on your wedding night while- I hope!- Eponine and Enjolras are pleasuring one another to ecstacy in the afterlife.
Loved it. I totally agree about Cosette, but that’s the fault of either Victor Hugo or the playwrights who adapted the novel. But doesn’t that mirror real life quite a bit? Young men seem to value beauty over character until they get some maturity.
Totally +1ing the Eponine>Cosette sentiment. Always felt that way.
I’ve always been firmly in the Eponine>Cosette camp. I gotta say, though, that this movie had me appreciating Cosette more than the stage show, and I was kind of bored by Eponine. I’ll go hide behind a barricade now.
I’m with you. It was/is a very moving story, and I don’t mind if everyone’s singing range isn’t equally powerful. I enjoyed it, though I wasn’t able to make it through the whole 3 hrs without a restroom break. Gonna get the DVD eventually.
Just as a humorous add-on:
My cousin/roommate saw it 2 days after I did, came home, and announced: “Well, I never need to see the inside of Hugh Jackman’s mouth ever again.”
Wow, I am clearly not the intended audience because it was the most torturous 2.5 hours I’ve ever encountered. Most painful to watch was Russell Crowe’s lack of range and his singing-through-his-nose.