The world as a whole needs more big screen musicals. Seriously, there’s nothing like the joy of a big screen production that’s heavy on the melodrama and lyrics. But in recent times they’ve been lacking. Has it really been five years since Sweeney Todd? And was I really the only person who enjoyed Nine? (itself released three years ago now).
The new adaptation of long running West End show Les Miserables is pretty awesome and pretty damn epic; the kind of epic usually reserved for Batman sequels and Alien prequels. Yes, the plot gets silly at times and it can feel a little too long, but Les Miserables carries itself with all the trappings of musical bravado which I enjoy.
Kings Speech director Tom Hopper makes some interesting decisions and for the most part they pay off. For instance, the much publicised decision to record live vocals works well in the medium and successfully ups the emotional register. Here movie stars (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway) fill the lead roles and act specifically for the movies: close-up and raw, with songs screamed or cried through rather than perfect diction and West End theatrics.
Recording this way means long takes, and often getting up close and personal with a Steadicam tracking the actors’ neatly framed head and shoulders. It can be disorientating at first, particularly when these close ups are interspersed with long shots framed at a 30 to 45 degree tilt (which happens frequently). But when it pays off it really works – Anne Hathaway’s distraught rendition of I Dreamed A Dream is one of my favorite things I’ve seen on film (or 4k digital, as it is at The O2) for quite a while. She gives an absolutely mesmerizing performance for the short duration she’s on screen and has subsequently acquired the status of ‘my current favorite actress’.
Viewed at: Sky Superscreen, The O2
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