Les Miserables
Les Miserables, based on the enormous novel by victor Hugo and the stage musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Jean Marc Natel, has joined on to be one of the many adaptions of classic novel and maintains the power of the great musical.
In 19th century France, convict Jean Val Jean is freed from prison after twenty years. He is taken in by a Bishop, who eventually gives him silver to start a better life for himself on the condition that he leads an honest life and gives back to society. Breaking his parole he goes in search of a better life. Jump to years later he starts up a factory and is elected mayor the village. After finding Fatine, a woman whom he had inadvertently caused the unemployment of, dying, he takes her to hospital telling her he will raise her illegitimate daughter Coisette as his own. Meanwhile Javert, a man of the law , is on Val jeans trail and pursues him in order to bring him to justice. Years later, Coisette has grown into a young woman and find's a suitor in the form of Marius and forms a love triangle as Marius loves Coisette, but Eponine, an acquaintance from her youth, is in love with Marius. All of this happening during the July Rebellion. Val Jean must balance this turn around to maintain being a free man, honor his fallen friends memory and maintain a father to Coisette.
Lets begin with what I dislike about this film. There is a mile long list.
For starters I dislike the pacing of the film, scenes fly by leaving you wondering, what the hell just happened. I admit that it is a very long musical and shaving moments can help sometimes, but not all the times. If they wanted they could have added twenty minutes of screen time. Long films have a certain artistic flair to them, I could do nothing but sit and watch a film for hours on end with a large popcorn, bag of minstrels and a large coke. Problem two is cinematography. Apparently some, if not most of the scenes are CGI, but that's not important. The close-ups are so close that you can practically see the pores of their skin. My major problem however is not Russell Crowe, but what I call the Disney Romance. It is such a ridiculous way to fall in love. They meet, they proclaim their love, they separate, they meet and someone dies(Whether its the protagonist, antagonist or an extra in the back, It matters not, for they are in love).
After all this, one might think I dislike the film, but the fact is, I do not, I just looked at what annoyed me most. Here is what I love.
I love the casting, especially Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, these two lit up the screen by their presence. Their vocal performances were phenomenal especially in the way they express emotion. I enjoyed the two innkeepers played by the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Boham Carter. They were chosen to deliver some lighthearted moments and they delivered. I surprisingly enjoyed Amanda Sayfried and Eddie Redmayne as Coisette and Marius, a much bigger improvement over Nick Jonas and Katie Hall from the 25th anniversary concert. In fact most of the cast has been improved in this transition, but Alfie Boe and Norm Lewis are actually very good. I want to see more Samantha Barks, she was awesome as Eponine and she needs to be in more movies.
I loved the music(as you would) and the way they performed. I enjoy the directors creation of new worlds and showing them off. They showed off the world as best they can and showed the passage of time as best they can.
Overall I felt this Musical Extravaganza to be a triumphant success. I had a felling this was an experiment, to bring one of the most difficult and exciting stage musicals to life, on screen. I still wouldn't mind seeing an extra half hour to give extra breathing space, but with what he could do Tom Hooper has made magic again and I hope to see this do well in the future.
In 19th century France, convict Jean Val Jean is freed from prison after twenty years. He is taken in by a Bishop, who eventually gives him silver to start a better life for himself on the condition that he leads an honest life and gives back to society. Breaking his parole he goes in search of a better life. Jump to years later he starts up a factory and is elected mayor the village. After finding Fatine, a woman whom he had inadvertently caused the unemployment of, dying, he takes her to hospital telling her he will raise her illegitimate daughter Coisette as his own. Meanwhile Javert, a man of the law , is on Val jeans trail and pursues him in order to bring him to justice. Years later, Coisette has grown into a young woman and find's a suitor in the form of Marius and forms a love triangle as Marius loves Coisette, but Eponine, an acquaintance from her youth, is in love with Marius. All of this happening during the July Rebellion. Val Jean must balance this turn around to maintain being a free man, honor his fallen friends memory and maintain a father to Coisette.
Lets begin with what I dislike about this film. There is a mile long list.
For starters I dislike the pacing of the film, scenes fly by leaving you wondering, what the hell just happened. I admit that it is a very long musical and shaving moments can help sometimes, but not all the times. If they wanted they could have added twenty minutes of screen time. Long films have a certain artistic flair to them, I could do nothing but sit and watch a film for hours on end with a large popcorn, bag of minstrels and a large coke. Problem two is cinematography. Apparently some, if not most of the scenes are CGI, but that's not important. The close-ups are so close that you can practically see the pores of their skin. My major problem however is not Russell Crowe, but what I call the Disney Romance. It is such a ridiculous way to fall in love. They meet, they proclaim their love, they separate, they meet and someone dies(Whether its the protagonist, antagonist or an extra in the back, It matters not, for they are in love).
After all this, one might think I dislike the film, but the fact is, I do not, I just looked at what annoyed me most. Here is what I love.
I love the casting, especially Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, these two lit up the screen by their presence. Their vocal performances were phenomenal especially in the way they express emotion. I enjoyed the two innkeepers played by the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Boham Carter. They were chosen to deliver some lighthearted moments and they delivered. I surprisingly enjoyed Amanda Sayfried and Eddie Redmayne as Coisette and Marius, a much bigger improvement over Nick Jonas and Katie Hall from the 25th anniversary concert. In fact most of the cast has been improved in this transition, but Alfie Boe and Norm Lewis are actually very good. I want to see more Samantha Barks, she was awesome as Eponine and she needs to be in more movies.
I loved the music(as you would) and the way they performed. I enjoy the directors creation of new worlds and showing them off. They showed off the world as best they can and showed the passage of time as best they can.
Overall I felt this Musical Extravaganza to be a triumphant success. I had a felling this was an experiment, to bring one of the most difficult and exciting stage musicals to life, on screen. I still wouldn't mind seeing an extra half hour to give extra breathing space, but with what he could do Tom Hooper has made magic again and I hope to see this do well in the future.
It's totally not copied and pasted at all
ReplyDeleteSorry, I was starting out and something went wrong in publishing in the font, i'll fix it. It isn't copied and pasted.
Delete