After two decades of waiting, the long-awaited movie version of the hit musical Les Miserables has finally arrived and it was worth the hype and worth the wait. This film has come at a time when the nation is still recovering from the Newtown tragedies and Hurricane Sandy. One of the film's songs, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, and the rousing finale, gives a dramatic sense that we must keep our heads up and move on with our lives and the world all around us.
Spanning around two decades of a French Revolution-like era in the 19th century, the film begins in 1815 with Jean Vaijean {Hugh Jackman} being free on parole after 19 years being jailed for stealing a piece of bread for his family. He tries to fit in, but finding no work because of his parole papers, he decides to steal some sliver from a bishop. The police stop him, but the bishop decides to give Vaijean two candlesticks. For Vaijean, it becomes a change of conscience, and with that, he rips his parole paper to shreds. Soon, Jean tries to run away from the law and hide, while police officer Javert {Russell Crowe} is straight on his trail for the next 16 years. Along the way, Vaijean gains a daughter, Cosette {Isabelle Allen in early years, Amanda Seyfried in adult form} from factory worker-turned prostitute Fantine {Anne Hathaway}, has run-ins with the loony Thenardier innkeepers {Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter}, and helping to fight in the Revolution with her daughter's lover Marius {Eddie Redmayne} while trying to escape.
Tom Hooper of King's Speech fame has crafted a heartbreaking, powerful and brilliantly made musical epic this side of West Side Story. The script has the same plot and wall-to-wall singing as the musical, but some of the songs are changed in the movie {for instance, I Dreamed a Dream takes place right after Fantine becomes a whore}. With the film, Hooper has broke ground with having the cast sing their songs live on camera instead of going to a recording studio recording them. This new technique works so flawlessly that you forget who the real actors are singing the song. Like in The King's Speech, Hooper also succeeds in making his cast of characters as real as they are really seem to be. Plus, with giving the film a fast-paced style, handheld camera-like images and filming one-shots on Dream and On My Own, Hooper may become the British's answer to Scorsese.
Jackman is wonderful as Vaijean, while Crowe's rock star-like voice adds a bit more authority to his Javert. Newcomer Samantha Barks is magnificent as the Thenardiers' daughter, and her rendition of On My Own is pure musical awesomeness. Cohen and Carter are both madcap funny as the Thenardiers, and Seyfried and Redmayne make a enchanted couple as Cosette and Marius. But the biggest standout in the film is Hathaway, bar none. Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream is in a word, unforgettable. Here's hoping Anne has a spot at home saved for Mr. Oscar.
While Alain Boubill and Claude-Michel Schonberg's opera-like score is hummable in some spots, it has the texture and sound of classic British poetry. Their Master of the House is still one jolly showstopper, while the film's only new song, the sweet Suddenly could be a Oscar lock for best song.
We're now finally proud to have Les Miz sung on the big screen, and it couldn't come at a better time like this.
P.S. Bring two or three packs of Kleenex. You're really gonna need them just in case.
Rating: ****
Rated PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements {For ages 14 and up}
Spanning around two decades of a French Revolution-like era in the 19th century, the film begins in 1815 with Jean Vaijean {Hugh Jackman} being free on parole after 19 years being jailed for stealing a piece of bread for his family. He tries to fit in, but finding no work because of his parole papers, he decides to steal some sliver from a bishop. The police stop him, but the bishop decides to give Vaijean two candlesticks. For Vaijean, it becomes a change of conscience, and with that, he rips his parole paper to shreds. Soon, Jean tries to run away from the law and hide, while police officer Javert {Russell Crowe} is straight on his trail for the next 16 years. Along the way, Vaijean gains a daughter, Cosette {Isabelle Allen in early years, Amanda Seyfried in adult form} from factory worker-turned prostitute Fantine {Anne Hathaway}, has run-ins with the loony Thenardier innkeepers {Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter}, and helping to fight in the Revolution with her daughter's lover Marius {Eddie Redmayne} while trying to escape.
Tom Hooper of King's Speech fame has crafted a heartbreaking, powerful and brilliantly made musical epic this side of West Side Story. The script has the same plot and wall-to-wall singing as the musical, but some of the songs are changed in the movie {for instance, I Dreamed a Dream takes place right after Fantine becomes a whore}. With the film, Hooper has broke ground with having the cast sing their songs live on camera instead of going to a recording studio recording them. This new technique works so flawlessly that you forget who the real actors are singing the song. Like in The King's Speech, Hooper also succeeds in making his cast of characters as real as they are really seem to be. Plus, with giving the film a fast-paced style, handheld camera-like images and filming one-shots on Dream and On My Own, Hooper may become the British's answer to Scorsese.
Jackman is wonderful as Vaijean, while Crowe's rock star-like voice adds a bit more authority to his Javert. Newcomer Samantha Barks is magnificent as the Thenardiers' daughter, and her rendition of On My Own is pure musical awesomeness. Cohen and Carter are both madcap funny as the Thenardiers, and Seyfried and Redmayne make a enchanted couple as Cosette and Marius. But the biggest standout in the film is Hathaway, bar none. Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream is in a word, unforgettable. Here's hoping Anne has a spot at home saved for Mr. Oscar.
While Alain Boubill and Claude-Michel Schonberg's opera-like score is hummable in some spots, it has the texture and sound of classic British poetry. Their Master of the House is still one jolly showstopper, while the film's only new song, the sweet Suddenly could be a Oscar lock for best song.
We're now finally proud to have Les Miz sung on the big screen, and it couldn't come at a better time like this.
P.S. Bring two or three packs of Kleenex. You're really gonna need them just in case.
Rating: ****
Rated PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements {For ages 14 and up}
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