Doctor Strange
I'll Lock Up
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- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
Went with my daughter (the other musical theater fan in the family) to Les Miz yesterday. We both found it amazing and frequently wrenchingly moving... Totally operatic in its summoning of big emotions. Anne Hathaway's performance is utterly heartbreaking: she's a lock on a Best Actress nomination. Sterling work by Hugh Jackman and the rest of the cast (even Russell Crowe, who's being savaged in many reviews for not being up to the singing requirements - I thought he was just fine as Inspector Javert: suitably rigid, implacable, and self-righteous).
Full disclosure: I saw the musical on Broadway back in the eighties and HATED it. (Though I have always liked Hugo's novel and the various dramatic films derived from it.) I think the difference in my response now (apart from being 20+ years older) was due to the film's intimacy and sung-live-on-set,-not-to-prerecorded-score technique. You are right there, in extreme closeup, with outstanding actors, really feeling the emotions. It's nothing like the more remote live theater experience - far more relatable. That said, the clunky moments are still there (e.g., "Master of the House" still sort of works as comic relief, but the too-broad performances by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter - who seem to have wandered in still in costume/character from Sweeney Todd - seem overdone), and it's awfully hard to care about most of the revolutionaries in the last act. Some of this is due to the complex plotting of Hugo's original story, and some to the musical adaptation, but not all of the songs/characters work.
That said, we still both cried our eyes out, and remained ferklempt and overwhelmed for hours afterwards... There's no question that the film will work this way for many people, but be a tough slog for many others - and I don't even think it's a matter of whether or not you dig musicals or this particular musical. It's just so nakedly emotional, and utterly lacking in modern snark and irony, that it's not for everybody.
Full disclosure: I saw the musical on Broadway back in the eighties and HATED it. (Though I have always liked Hugo's novel and the various dramatic films derived from it.) I think the difference in my response now (apart from being 20+ years older) was due to the film's intimacy and sung-live-on-set,-not-to-prerecorded-score technique. You are right there, in extreme closeup, with outstanding actors, really feeling the emotions. It's nothing like the more remote live theater experience - far more relatable. That said, the clunky moments are still there (e.g., "Master of the House" still sort of works as comic relief, but the too-broad performances by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter - who seem to have wandered in still in costume/character from Sweeney Todd - seem overdone), and it's awfully hard to care about most of the revolutionaries in the last act. Some of this is due to the complex plotting of Hugo's original story, and some to the musical adaptation, but not all of the songs/characters work.
That said, we still both cried our eyes out, and remained ferklempt and overwhelmed for hours afterwards... There's no question that the film will work this way for many people, but be a tough slog for many others - and I don't even think it's a matter of whether or not you dig musicals or this particular musical. It's just so nakedly emotional, and utterly lacking in modern snark and irony, that it's not for everybody.
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