Les Miserables sucks

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.

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 9: Favourite musical

Well, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise.  I haven’t seen a whole lot of musicals but this one stands out to me as, well, the best.

30 Day Song Challenge: Days 4 + 5

Well, since I was busy with my boyfriend all of yesterday (which, by the way, was a strange experience as I have never spent an entire day with him before — but it was great!) so I didn’t get a chance to post and I’m sure you’re all dying to know what the next songs I’ve posted.  Bazinga.  I’m sure you’re all too busy with deciding who won the federal debate the past two days.

Day 4 was a song that makes you sad.  Now that’s a topic I know lots about.  So many songs make me sad in different ways, but surprisingly (or maybe not), one of the first songs that popped into my head was “Without You” from the movie/musical Rent.  I can’t remember how I felt about it when I saw the movie for the first time but it was definitely after my first bf and I had broken up that the meaning of the song just devastated me.  I would cry every time I heard it, including one time when I was walking down the street, listening to the Rent soundtrack and I was a crying mess walking on the sidewalk.  I eventually had to find a quiet place to control myself.  And when I played it on the piano and sang, it would be the same thing.  Once after I finished playing it, I just burst into tears.  No other song has ever done that to me.

I had originally posted Sarah McLachlan’s “Sweet Surrender” for the song for Day 5 – A song that reminds you of someone, but I decided a few minutes ago to change it to something that I wrote.  Last night, I played a few songs for a fundraiser my friend Stephen Emery had organized to collect donations for the relief effort in Japan and I had originally planned to sing “You Will Never Know These Words”.  But after I saw the small crowd at J Lounge, I decided that it probably wasn’t the best audience to rant about my father (I sang “Goodbye Spain” instead, since it seems to the a favourite amongst people).  Every time I’ve sang YWNKTW, I’ve dedicated it to my dad, who still hasn’t ever come to see me perform.  I know he will probably never truly understand me and the things I love to do.