But I’m gay so I must like musicals, right?
Well, yes, I like a good musical every now and then. But a good one. And I’m sure Les Miserables on stage is pretty awesome. I have no doubt about that.
Les Miserables as a film — well, what can I say about that. I think I can understand why people– well, fans of the musical– love the movie adaptation. I haven’t seen it so I can’t comment on the adaptation. However, as a film, it’s really not very good. Film is a visual medium; the singing is great (aside from Russell Crowe), but the scenes are so static that it’s just boring to watch. Sure, Anne Hathaway is tremendous and will likely win a well-deserved Oscar (I was crying during “I Dreamed a Dream”, not just because of the song itself), but her performance isn’t enough to sustain a fairly mediocre-ly, very disappointingly shot and edited film. There were shots, like near the end when Marius and Jean Valjean are standing in a near-empty room together, and the camera angle is skewed that is simply jarring and seemingly a poor choice in framing (I found myself thinking, “Whyyyyyyyy?”). I could go on about the lack of wide shots that would’ve made use of the fantastic art direction and costumes and how the story (and my attention span) went down after Hathaway’s departure from the film, but I think this review sums it up for me: http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/les-miserables/6731
Oh, and I finally found this on youtube. The best part of the film, by far.
aaron's random musings 