So, tonight I saw the new film version of Les Miserables, featuring an all-star cast of Hugh Jackman....Russell Crowe....Anne Hathaway....Amanda Seyfried? ...anyway. I had been hearing a lot of stuff about the movie through friends and via facebook. There are camps that love it and camps that hate it. Those who hate it seem to have enormous issues with the singing and then film acting and talking that happens within the songs that we are used to seeing "performed" on a grand stage with costumes and sets, selling it to an audience much further away.
I remember when I saw the film version of Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, I remember there were many different opinions as well. Some people hated the singing, some people liked it, etc. I very much liked it. I thought the way the music and the singing was handled really fit the vision of the film on a whole, and that show has a complicated book with complicated characters who are scheming and plotting and doing all sorts of awful things. The songs were almost seamless through the movie and worked perfectly with the plot.
Les Miserables and Sweeney Todd are probably the most opposite musicals ever. While Sweeney is driven by the complicated plot and book, Les Miserables is a sung-through musical. It is all about hit tunes, exciting singing and a few moving characters. In my opinion, the characters in Les Miz that you care about are Jean Valjean, Fantine and Eponine. Those are the characters I relate to most. They have real human feelings and superior songs to show them.
Fantine was played brilliantly by Anne Hathaway. Fantine is the perfect gem of a part. You come on, sing a great song, everyone loves you, and then you die in the middle of the first act. I was surprised and disappointed that they cut a bunch of Fantine's music in the movie, considering Anne Hathway is the highlight, I would have liked to see more of her. Her performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" was well sung and made me cry. It was the only time the concept of the live singing with movie style acting really, really worked for me, and the fact that it was done in one take is impressive. You could sing a song great in one take, hundreds of performers do that daily, but doing a performance for the camera without playing to a big house, crying and still hitting all the notes is no easy task, and Anne rose to the occasion. There were moments in her other parts I thought she was too much too soon or a little self indulgent, but I'd be surprised if that song didn't win her an Oscar. It worked for Jennifer Hudson.
The two male leads, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman were a mixed bag. It's so funny to me that Hugh Jackman has been on Broadway, won a Tony, sung legit musical theater, and sang so terribly for most of the film. His vocal production physically hurt me at moments, and it's unfortunate because he actually acted beautifully, but his rendition of "Bring Him Home" was horrific. Bad singing from Hugh and bad musical direction from whoever didn't tell him not to scream that song. Mr. Jackman clearly has a great voice, he's just gotten some bad information on how to use it. Russell Crowe has been most people's choice for the worst singer in the movie, but at least he didn't have me grabbing for my throat. The only time I found his singing truly silly was during "Stars," where he made some interesting choices.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Cohen were enjoyable as the Thenardiers, althought Mr. Cohen's performance was a little subdued and his choice of accent was strange, Madame Carter/Burton came off much better. Eddie Redmayne wins 2nd place for worst singing after Hugh Jackman. His kermit the frog impression made him so unattractive that I couldn't believe he had two women after him. Also, they should have cut "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables." I know people like the song, but it adds nothing to the plot and stopped the movie dead in its tracks towards the end when everyone wants to go home. Samantha Barks was lovely as Eponine, but her singing suffered when she did quiet singing. It seemed as if someone told her she couldn't sound so "Broadway" and she took it too far. Also, she was a wobbly mess in "Heart Full of Love." That duet/trio was almost unlistenable. Amanda Seyfried was very pretty and her autotuned flutter only added to her allure...oy. To be honest, she offended me less than Eddie Redmayne though.
Broadway actor, Aaron Tveit, was great as Enjolras. A little too boyish for the part, but he sang well and looked handsome. Hadley Fraser, who had one line in the movie, "You at the barricade listen to this, etc" did the best singing of the movie in maybe 20 seconds. Check him out singing Marius in the clip bellow.
All in all I enjoyed the movie, I was moved by it and thought there were great performances. I even liked the added "Action scenes" that added more to Javert's chase for Valjean. I commend the director and sound people for trying this new way to do the movie musical. It'll be interesting to see if it'll become common practice in the future. I thought the production design was good, I especially like/was upset by how awful, dirty and creepy the docks were with the prostitutes. Anyway, definitely go see this movie!
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