512: Les Misérables

[Henry Faherty]:\nTwo nineteen. Let's get to Les Mis, which came out in twenty twelve, of course, done by Tom Hooper, stars a huge cast, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen Baum Carter, Eddie Redmayne. And the synopsis is, in nineteenth century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert, after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever. So this, of course, is based off the classic novel by Victor Hugo. It's been adapted dozens and dozens of times in film and television. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThis was, in terms of at least modern \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nadaptations, the most blockbuster commercial version of it. I grew up with my mother loving classic literature like this, and she watched a lot of shows in this vein, a lot of movies, also things set in this time period. I love history, as I always say, so there are a lot of things that draw me to a movie like this. Right off the bat, this is definitely my favorite Tom Hooper movie to date. I think in terms of modern musicals, it is one of the most daring and courageous. For one, the live singing, all the singing was done on set. It was not done in postproduction, which is a incredibly risky and uncommon thing to do. Also, there's almost no little to no actual dialogue in the movie. It's really all singing, and that goes on for its two hours and forty minutes ish. So it's a really long, epic, big movie. I even when I first saw it in theaters, I thought it was fantastic. It's so emotionally raw. And what I really love and appreciate about the live singing aspect is I like musicals in general. I used to hate them, but now they're like any other genre. A good movie is a good movie. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nBut the thing that usually really irks me, especially when it comes to things like Disney musicals and things, I don't inherently dislike that most musicals will be done in postproduction or the singing will be. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nI just find that even with the advancement of technology of microphones, so many times, musicals nowadays are so lazy. And that, for example, I was just watching the Aladdin remake, the live action film, and I've seen some other ones like that recently. The singing, the staging, the sound design of those songs feel so artificial. I don't feel like I'm actually in that world with him singing \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nBecause whenever you have someone twirling around on screen or facing away from the camera or running as they're singing, there's no real to me, I never really noticed much of a thoughtfulness when it comes to changing how the sound comes across, how the voices come across based on what they're doing. Whereas in this, Les Mis, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nyou see Hugh Jackman, you see people walking around, if they're running, if they're \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nin a huge crowded place, it feels like things are not perfect. And that's what I wish all musicals would do. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nPerformance wise, though, everybody is amazing except for one person. Hugh Jackman, this is aside from Logan, this is probably my favorite performance of his. He is so passionate and committed. And if you know anything about Hugh Jackman, he's very, very much apart and has a love for the Broadway world, the musical world, the theater world. So this is right in his wheelhouse and shows you such a great range of his style of performances, but he is perfect as Jean Valjean. The main issue, as I've been alluding to and I know some people are in agreement, I know some people don't mind it, but even when I first saw it and I knew nothing about musicals, I wasn't really thinking about a lot of critical things about movies. It was just another blockbuster. Russell Crowe, his singing in this is horrendous. Compared to everybody else, like, I don't mind unconventional styles of singing. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nFor example, Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd Into the Woods. He's not maybe the most traditional sounding singer, but what he's given in those movies and his overall voice, that works for me. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nRussell Crowe, however, it feels so tone deaf, especially when he's going against within the same scene or in a montage he's singing with people like Hugh Jackman. It is makes my ears bleed. And I don't mean to be too mean sorry, but it ruins this movie from being a five out of five. It would be a five out of five if Russell Crowe had been replaced with someone else or or a different person cast. And, really, the worst moment in all of it is there's the one day more song or chorus towards the end, maybe two thirds of the way in, when the whole cast is singing in unison and they're cutting back to all the different locations where their characters are. And for some reason, he seems to have, from a volume standpoint, the most presence in that moment. And let me know if you feel that way about Russell Crowe in this, because otherwise, I don't really have that many issues. I have a lot of things to say about it, so bear with me in terms of things I like. So, obviously, the music is amazing. The do you hear the people sing one day more? Empty chairs at empty tables. Like, it really there are so many different styles and varieties of songs and where they're staged, the choreography, who's involved. Like, it's very well edited, well written. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nAnd what I was saying with Tom Hooper's adapting of different styles of direction for each movie, the camera work in this is essentially all handheld \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nas opposed to The King's Speech, which was mostly stationary cameras. Cameras are very zoomed in on characters' faces. It's very intimate. Because of how much passion and emotion is in this movie, I think that was the perfect choice to do because that allows you to be front and center with these actors belting their lungs out as opposed to being at a far distance and things feeling cartoony or anything, it feels like you're right there with those tears, with that anger, with whatever else it might be. Some standout sequences, even the beginning, definitely one of the most epic \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nopenings for a musical ever. When you have the French flag in the water, then you have that colossal opening set with the prisoners pulling in the ship with the ropes, and it's raining, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nand Russell Crowe is walking on that walkway above and looking down on them. The sequence at the church when Hugh Jackman tries to steal the silver because he's so desperate for money and he just needs to get away from this \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\npoor, impoverished prisoner life. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nAnd that's when you meet the original Jean Valjean actor who plays the priest. And that soliloquy by Hugh Jackman of him walking out of the church and poses on the mountainside. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThe love triangle between Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, and \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nSamantha Barks is one of the more touching, and it's obviously meant to be very romantic. And that Amanda Seyfried has been sheltered by Hugh Jackman for her whole life, and then she meets Eddie Redmayne and falls in love. But then Samantha Barks' character is heartbroken because Eddie Redmayne isn't falling in love with her, and she's completely thrown aside, not intentionally so, but she knows that it's not going to be the way she wants it. One of the most popular because it won her an Oscar, Anne Hathaway's song towards the beginning. I don't know if that really earned an Academy Award for me. Like, yeah, she's great, but she's in it so little that I feel like there were other people that year who I would have given it to over her, but that's just how the Oscars are. Being this character who is just completely run down by society, by not being strong enough to withstand all of the the corruption, the male dominance, and overall working conditions. She hasn't really done anything wrong, and so she is this innocent character who just cannot get ahead. And it's very heartbreaking, and it's a very iconic character because of that. One more controversial sequence in the movie, at least for maybe for people who love the original book or maybe the original adaptations of it, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThe in sequence with Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nwhen I first saw it, and I still feel the same way, I get if that irks you because it's very overdone. The character designs are crazy. But just in the context of the movie with this adaptation, sure, you could have toned it down, but, honestly, with how weird it is, that's what makes it interesting in some ways, and it's very funny and gross and very sexualized. So that doesn't bother me. It maybe goes on a little long. The young boy in this, the blonde kid, he's amazing. Like, talking about a kid pulling off an incredible performance at a super young age, like, I can't imagine being a kid and being in this huge movie, being expected to sing live along with all the choreography, the rugged conditions. It's really impressive. Talking about the historical side of it, the French Revolution, there's so much going on in that time. There's so many different kinds of stories that you can tell. And Victor Hugo, obviously, considering its stature and literature, He did an incredible job capturing all of that and creating a lot of very timeless classic pieces and themes and dealing with oppression and freedom and redemption. You name it, this movie probably has it, and it comes through very well. Because the whole movie, yes, I understand, like, it's two hours and forty minutes. It's exhausting to watch. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nWhen I watch it, it's exhausting, but in a satisfying way. There are plenty of other movies at this length in the style that I just want it to be over, and I'm not getting much out of it at all. But I'm always blown away by how much they are able to pull off as well as they were. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nSo when the credits roll, I'm like, man, that was an experience. And that's what we need more of in blockbusters. And we'll get to it with cats, spoilers, but that has a vastly different result even though in some ways it's also courageous in what it's trying to do. Few other things real quick. The battle in the streets with the blockade and certain characters dying and those sacrifices being made for the good of the people, the suicide of Javert. Honestly, I was not upset that he died because I was like, okay. At least we don't have to have Russell Crowe sing again. Sorry, not sorry. That's how I felt. But whether you're a fan of musicals or not, I encourage you to check this one out. Give it a revisit if you have seen it. I hope that Tom Hooper, when he does get back to feature filmmaking, he gets back to something like this as opposed to another cats, which I don't think we're gonna get something like that for a long time for obvious reasons. That is a heavy four and a half \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nout of five. \n\n