Les Miserable
I’ve
only recently developed a kind of love for musical theater, having had
very little exposure throughout most of my life but having been given a
great deal of exposure in the recent years through friends in the
theater community. However, you’d kind of have to live out in the middle
of a third world country with almost no exposure to popular culture in
order to miss having heard at least a few songs if not the entire
soundtrack of “Les Miserable”, a musical based on the paperweight novel
by Victor Hugo. It’s not the first, last, or most faithful adaptation of
the source material but it is probably the most successful and has
played throughout the world to sold-out audiences. It’s a masterpiece,
it’s critically acclaimed, and it’s credited (along with “Cats” and
“Phantom of the Opera”) with bringing big musicals back to prominence
during the Broadway renaissance of the 80’s. And while I’m familiar
with the music, the rough outline of the story, and the characters, I
have never actually seen the show in its’ entirety.
Adapting
a stage musical to screen production comes with a great many
challenges, especially a production as popular and well known as Les
Mis. Casting, set design, and everything else along the way is going to
face severe scrutiny from the shows fans and you also have to utilize a
wholly different medium to its best advantages. Previous film
productions like “Phantom of the Opera” faced similar scrutiny and never
really achieved the kind of success seen by the original production.
Time will tell whether Les Mis will find a bigger audience, but it did
have a higher budget and much more production than the previously
mentioned show. I’ll just offer my thoughts on the show…
Amazing.
Okay,
so that’s a little short and non-descript. Let me just state that
putting the majority of the show across the shoulders of Hugh Jackman in
the central role was a terrific decision on the part of casting.
Jackmans’ voice is strong, his acting is top notch, and he’s someone the
audience can cheer, feel, and understand. It’s easy to see why many of
the actors were chosen for their roles, including a few Broadway cast
reprisals. But I have to give an amazing amount of credit to Anne
Hathaway for her portrayal of Fontaine. “I Dreamed a Dream” is an
amazing song on its’ own, but Hathaway takes the song to a new level for
me. The camera remains fixed on her throughout the rendition, never
cutting to a new angle or using some trick in editing to cover or
stylize the performance… it’s honestly raw and brutal and
heart-wrenching to see her break down throughout the song, to watch her
find the character in a way that I can’t help but admire.
Ah,
but you hear a but in there somewhere, don’t you? Okay… while I loved
the movie, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the few things that
took away from the show for me. There were two major issues for me so
let me address them.
Along with every other person who is criticizing this movie… Russell
Crowe falls short on several occasions. Inspector Javier is supposed to
have a voice that is strong and certain, but when he is singing across
from the powerful Jackman, Crowe’s voice seems less than adequate. He
does manage to carry his solos quite well and the big one near the end
is powerful and fully captures the moment so he’s not as bad as everyone
claims. So if you’re letting reviewers convince you to stay away due
to this performance, don’t… Crowe is reasonably acceptable and matches
Jackman so far as screen presence as acting. His voice isn’t horrible,
it just isn’t what one expects from the character he is playing.
The
second issue may take some more getting used to… there are some amazing
shots in this film with regards to cinematography. Sweeping set design,
beautiful architecture, and flawless costuming… most of which will be
missed if you don’t have a quick eye because the director’s vision
included keeping the camera about two feet away from every single
performer. We are close enough to each and every performer to take in
every bubble of snot in their nose, to count every wrinkle on their
face, and to note every single edit from one angle to another. In some
shots, this technique works… the aforementioned solo with Fontaine,
Marius’ solo in “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables”, and a few other songs.
But when you have a huge ensemble piece like “Lovely Ladies”, the
technique falls apart as we rapidly cut from a focus on Fontaine to the
featured bits and pieces of random ladies on the street. It’s no more
blaringly a miss with regards to “Master of the House”. It feels like
some of the songs are sung AT us. This, however, was obviously an
artistic decision and I may simply be of a different taste from most
audiences.
All in all, I really loved the movie and encourage audiences to give it a shot.
4 out of 5.
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