So, I just saw Les Mistoday. And yes, I’m gonna complain and bitch about stuff I didn’t like. I’ll try to mention some things I did like too.
My first reaction is about the piece—the score and lyrics and “script”. The songs are really great. The recitative-like bits aren’t so great. They just don’t feel natural. Am I wrong in thinking there’s a lot of “new” stuff added in? I’m somewhat familiar with the show, but I don’t KNOW it, the way I know shows that I’ve done. But there were a lot of little bits here and there which I didn’t recognize and which were kind of clunky and awkward, much like the “recitative”.
I had issues with several little bits of “dialogue” which seemed like ad libs. Maybe they aren’t. As I said, I’m not intimately familiar with the show, but that’s how they seemed to me. I’m not opposed to ad libsas a concept, but these spots I’m thinking of didn’t seem necessary, nor particularly great—they didn’t make it better, in my opinion, or convey anything that would otherwise be missing, so why not leave them out?
Also, I had some with the voices. Generally, I thought everyone “acted the songs” well without adding on a lot of stuff that didn't come from the text, etc. Everyone, that it, except Javert and adult Cosette, both of whom I found boring. But that may be an issue with the writing. Also, frankly, I felt that some of Anne Hathaway’s Fantine was a bit histrionic.
This is another writing issue: except for Valjean, I don’t feel that there’s really much to know about the characters, so I don’t care about them. And I think I’m expected to care about them pretty quickly as soon as we meet them.
So, about the singers...
I just hated Javert's voice most of the time. It was awkward and not natural. I think it's a technical issue with the placement. And, to me, it seemed Russell Crowe wasn't at ease with singing.
Hugh Jackman. He seemed very comfortable with singing. And that was great. He did a great job of “acting the songs”. And his last scene, at the very end, did move me to tears. (Not outright bawling or anything. Come on, this is me.) However, I thought his placement was strange maybe half of the time. Toward the end of the movie (3/4s through it) it occurred to me that maybe the role is just too high for him. Not that he can't sing those notes, but it sits fairly high much of the time. I found myself thinking he might’ve made a better Javert, certainly better than Russell Crowe. (I also found myself thinking that he was so strong because of the adamantium laced-bones.)
Eddie Redmayne as Marius. I thought his voice sounded good, but that shaky jaw tension thing was annoying to watch. Really annoying.
When the Thénardiers appeared, I just thought, “Ug”. Weren’t they satisfied with their roles in Sweeney Todd? I just was not that crazy about either Sacha Baron Cohen or Helena Bonham Carter. They were alright, but I just saw them and not the characters.
When Amanda Seyfried sang (Cosette) I kept wondering if that was a real voice or some computer-adjusted thing. Especially when it went high. It was odd, maybe a bit like a boy soprano or something.
Anne Hathaway sang well, but as I said it was a bit much at times.
I think that covers all the famous people, right? All the “stars”. Everyone who I didn’t recognize, the non-stars, was great. Aaron Tveit as Enjolras (the “leader” of the revolutionaries—I had to look up both the actor and character names) was great. I actually thought he should’ve played Marius. Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche (the little boy revolutionary) was wonderful. Samantha Barks was fine as Éponine, although I did find the character uninteresting.
I thought that the bishop was really excellent. It’s not a big role (yes, there ARE small roles), but he was great. Ohhh...No wonder. I just looked it up, and he was played by Colm Wilkinson. Colm Wilkinson was the original London and Broadway Valjean, as well as various other stage musical roles.
A general note concerning the accuracy of musical performances in this film. I fear that this film may piss off various music directors and music teachers and accompanists for several years to come. Because there seemed to me to be a hell of a lot of inaccurate rhythms and pitches, and rushing. (“Rushing” means going faster than you’re supposed to so that you get ahead of the beat.) And now that it’s recorded in this way, it’s set, tons of singers and actors will learn it that way.
(This is part of a general gripe of mine about how many actors learn music—by only using a recording when they apparently don’t have the ability to decide if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. In fact, I know an actor/singer who used to think that since people went to so much trouble to make a recoding, often with the composer involved, that it must be the way it’s supposed to be. Not true. A recording, like any production, usually involves compromises. You loved this one take, except there was that one spot which was a little off. Or, you love how this actor performs this role, except they have trouble with the range or maybe have trouble with learning tricky rhythms or whatever. You make compromises. Anyway...)
Okay...what else?
The sets and costumes were great, although, I didn’t like the Thénardiers costumes. They just seemed a bit...I don’t know, not ridiculous, but they sort of took me out of the story. Look, comic relief is great and absolutely useful in a drama. But to me, they were too much. Sorry, this isn’t about their costumes so much as about their performances.
The women in the factory and “Lovely Ladies” scenes I found kind of annoying, and the choreography in the factory seemed contrived to me. Like suddenly they were doing a number. And that generally was not the feel of the rest of the movie (except “Master of the House”...again, the Thénardiers). And the “Lovely Ladies” scene seemed almost an odd, stylized thing unlike the rest of the movie.
I liked how the opening just began, no Overture, no bumbling around, just start. I did not like the long (CGI?) camera shot from far away and above. I similarly did not like the couple of shots at the end of songs (“Stars” and “Bring Him Home” I think) that pulled up and away from the singer, both visually and aurally, so that the last note, the last word, didn’t end, but faded instead. The first time that happened I laughed out loud. And the couple of times Javert was pacing somewhere up high above the rest of the city seemed strange to me.
There was one shot I though odd—with young Cosette and Madame Thénardier. It was where Cosette was hiding behind a wall, and you saw only her eyes and mouth, alternating with Madame Thénardier’s hair and eyes and nose, but not her mouth. That image of Cosette was a really great, striking image, but it just struck me as odd within the film—I don’t recall there being other such striking images.
There were a lot of shots that seemed off-center a bit—almost more diagonal than horizontal. I feel certain that those were done on purpose, but I don’t know why. They just made me feel a little dizzy. And there was a lot of cutting back and forth between 2 or more shots in solo songs, which was also a bit dizzying. I would’ve appreciated more shots where the camera was set in one spot or moving in a longer shot with the singer.
Re: Javert’s suicide—it was so incredibly obvious to me from before his last song even started what he was going to do. There was no working it out, no questioning, nothing like that. Just a long, drawn out “I’m confused and I can’t live like that, so I’m gonna do it. I’m not even trying to convince myself or justify it. I just have to get through this hurdle of a song and then I’m done.” So, the whole time I was just sitting there thinking, “Yeah, do it. Now. Don’t make me suffer through any more of your dreadful singing. Do it.”
Wow, that sounds kind of callous. But, in my defense, from the beginning of the movie I found his voice annoying and I didn’t care about his character at all. So what else was I supposed to feel about that song?
Okay. Well...I’m not sure what more there is to say. Obviously these things are a matter of taste and opinion, like much of what I’ve mentioned here. Then again, it is me writing my reaction to the film. I’m certainly open to questions or responses.
