Les Misérables Review
Les Misérables is not just a musical, its a Mega Musical. With its huge cast of characters, operatic soundtrack, huge themes and a storyline that covers over twenty years.
Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is one of the longest books in history (might be the longest but I could be wrong) with over a thousand pages to it. I have not read the book and probably wont get around to it anytime this decade, but the book is about the tyrannical dictatorship of the law, one mans quest for redemption, love and loss, right and wrong and it all leads to a small French revolution performed by school boys. And all of these factors are just scratching the surface of the total overarching plot.
The attempt to bring Le Mis to the big screen has been attempted I think more than ten times with the most recent one in 1998 with Liam Neeson. Being that Le Mis has such a huge source material its obvious that the translation has been more than a bit tricky because its ultimately going to have to make some cuts in the material, However I've heard that there's a 1930 version that's the best translation with everything in it, ow but the running time is five hours, haven't seen it, cant say if its good but if you want to take the risk go ahead. It wasn't until 1980 that it was adapted into a musical format and this formula seemed to work because it is through song that a lot of information can be channeled into a condensed amount of time in a very entertaining way.
The musical of Les Misérables is one of the most revered stage musicals of all time, as well as one of the longest running, until it was cancelled a few years ago. My parents are big fans of the musical and my father has the soundtrack, so my knowledge of the story and songs are fragmented into pieces. I know a few songs and I know the plot in broad-strokes, so this is really my first complete Le Mis experience. So now I can say with confidence "HOT DAMN, I love Le Mis!".
After Tom Hooper got a home run with his feature, the surprise Multi Oscar winning The Kings Speech he could write his own ticket for whatever project he wanted and what do you know he wanted to take on one of the most highly acclaimed Musicals of all time. None can say that Hooper is a man without ambition.
The movie starts with Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) or prisoner 24601 who is serving a sentence of nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread and trying to resist arrest (wow...harsh). Now finally he has served his time and is on parole with is "yellow ticket of leave" given to him by Javert (Russell Crowe) the police commander who is constantly walking the edge (literally) of his duty and his morals.
Some people don't know, or have forgotten that Hugh Jackman came from a Broadway background, he made his name starting off on the stage (his first big role way Gaston on Beauty & The Beast). Jackman must have wanted to play Jean Valjean and I'm sure that he was doing flips when he got the part. Jackman channels his movie career more than his stage career with Valjean being more subtle and not so flamboyant with the singing. The opposite can be said for Russell Crowe who is much more stage like as Javert, really belting out his singing and just because I feel I have to mention it because everyone else is talking about it, I like Russell Crowe as Javert, maybe its just because hes the only Javert I've ever seen but I liked him.
Tom Hooper made a unique decision with the movie on the technical side, all the singing would be recorded on set. The actors would sing their parts on set with a microphone off camera and a earpiece in their ear so they could hear the music. Usually the actors records their singing before shooting and then while they are shooting they have the lip sync the their previously recorded singing. This technique lets the actors sing in the moment and play off their fellow actors as well so there's more of a bond to their singing. The original Musical has zero obrolan but this one has 0.1% dialog, just a little bit in-between songs, it works for me but make of that what you will. The singing is also more gritty and dark, rather than the musical which is constantly pretty, if anyone has seen the play and/or has the soundtrack and loves how pretty it is then prepare to be disappointed, this is more real and relevant to the characters singing than we've ever had in a musical before and I applaud it. I hope we get more musicals like this.
I first learned about this movie version when I saw the teaser trailer on IMDB and when it was done first thing I said was "wow, wow ,wow...Anne Hathaway can sing!". I'm a big Anne Hathaway fan but I had no idea that she could sing and ow my can she sing. Anne Hathaway as Fantine is a heartbreaking performance that elevates Anne Hathaway even higher in my book as a truly great star, I believe that if she does with the Oscar it will be well deserved.
We then meet the Thénardiers played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter and good lord what perfect casting this is. They are hilarious but in-keeping with the story and the tone of the story and they of coarse have Master of the House, one of the most fun songs and I'll just label it as my favorite. There brilliant as these two bottom feeders of society whose morals may be deplorable but a cockroach is disgusting to some as-well, but they survive.
We then meet the Thénardiers played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter and good lord what perfect casting this is. They are hilarious but in-keeping with the story and the tone of the story and they of coarse have Master of the House, one of the most fun songs and I'll just label it as my favorite. There brilliant as these two bottom feeders of society whose morals may be deplorable but a cockroach is disgusting to some as-well, but they survive.
Then we meet their child Éponine played by Samantha Barks who makes her film debut (although you wouldn't guess that being how good she is) and she is one of the best in this already glowing cast. She had already played Éponine in I think two other productions of Les Misérables and she knows the role and the material so fluently she is just fa-nominal to watch and of coarse to listen to.
The plot then goes onto Valjean and Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) now with a new identity only Cosette has fallen in love with young man who is part of a big revolution formed of mostly school boys (I'm sure they have a good chance of succeeding). Their romance has always been dull, it plays out like blah blah loves great, NEXT!
Les Misérables is a great story and it has had glorious treatment being turned into a stage play and the adaptation again into a movie is again glorious. Back in 2001 Moulan Rouge was released and that started a revived interest in the movie musical here's hoping that this Les Misérables does the same as well as a return of the stage musical as-well.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar