Les Miserables (2012) film adaptation of the musical

His identity as mayor Madeleine is illegal, in that he should have declared himself a former convict when he arrived. Instead, he adopted a secter identity and eventually became mayor. So that's a crime.

Heh, Cracked.com photoshop contest: http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_492_the-22-worst-possible-taglines-upcoming-movies/

Les Misérables: It's Cheaper than Seeing It On Broadway.

That really is a major selling point for the movie, though, isn't it? I think it's a very good idea (well, I've thought so ever since I realized/became confident that they weren't going to utterly destroy it) because it makes the musical accessible to a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise have the change to see it, but it's hard to see why it should be better than a Broadway performance with actors who are extremely practised in performing it and are all professional singers. Aside from special effects, that is, but I've never found a lack of special effects to seriously detract from a play; imagination and absorption in the story generally takes care of things. So given that I've already seen a performance of it, I'm not sure how much I'd get out of going to the film. The central benefit is that not everyone is in the right place, or has the money, to see a top-quality performance of Les Mis, but pretty well anyone can see the film.

Or maybe I'm just feeling cranky about the film because I just saw a preview of it where Hugh Jackman had an extremely obvious Australian accent in some of the songs, which is a tad distracting (though, reasonably, it's not any less legitimate than any other accent, since the characters are all French people speaking English).

What does everyone else think?

And now, a bit of fun. It's 25 years later, and Marius and Cosette's marriage is on the rocks. Whatever can Marius do? Hint: it involves Time Lords.

edited 14th Dec '12 10:11:48 PM by HamburgerTime

The vast majority of the viewing public is more familiar with film than it is with a stage production, for better or for worse. A lot of people find big theatre musicals off-putting. In the film, it'll actually look like the actors are in Paris, at the barricades, rather then on a stage. To be cruelly blunt, film lets the audience avoid doing the imaginative heavy lifting. To be practical, yes, far more people will be able to see the film than would be able to see the stage play, for both financial reasons and reasons of geography.

In the early days of film (and TV for that matter) there were actually intellectual snobs who were against it expressly because it could put great works of art in front of the great unwashed masses, and they felt mass exposure would cheapen art. If you can believe that.

And Hugh Jackman's a fine singer; I imagine you'll forget about his accent after a bit I just hope they think to age him a bit as the film progresses, cuz he looks a bit too young and pretty for Valjean in some of those scenes.

edited 15th Dec '12 12:05:15 PM by Robbery

I saw the trailer. It is very exciting, especially the Barricades scene.

I confess to seeing the Broadway version (my first show ever, actually), and I definitely felt its length. The second half sucks.

I've seen the London production twice and I've never felt that it was too long, or that the second half was weaker.

Are there differences between the productions? (Of course it's more likely that the differences are in our tastes but maybe the shows really are different...)

One difference that doesn't really matter is the accents of the actors. With Les Miserables I'm used to British accents so whenever I've seen bits of American productions the accents sound silly to me. With Wicked, I'm used to listening to the American versions so when I saw it in London it took me a while to get used to the accents, especially with songs like "Dancing Through Life" where the difference is really obvious.

I would agree that the second half is slightly weaker, but only because the first half is so good. The music in the second half, though there are lots of great moments, isn't quite the same level. The storytelling also seems to slow down around 'Turning', the only song I would happily cut from the show.

On the other hand, I have been to see the show at least 8 times (7 in London, 1 in Norwich) and have never felt that it was too long. In fact, I wouldn't mind having the original cut material reinserted since there are a few interesting bits that were axed to get the show under the 3 hour running time.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when grades were high and fucks worth giving. I dreamed no test would make me cry, I dreamed that curves would be forgiving. Then I was young and unprepared, and A’s were made and used and wasted. There were no extensions to be begged, no nights unslept, no effort wasted. But the finals come at last, with their laughter soft as thunder, as they tear your grades apart, as they turn your dream to shame.
-Source

...

i*claps*

edited 16th Dec '12 2:14:50 PM by LE0Night

My life in a nutshell.

The fuck is this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx7K42uyrts

This clip was the moment I completely lost faith in the film's "let's sing it like shit, that'll be more realistic and cinematic" ideal. You know, if you really want it to be realistic, you'd cut the singing altogether. And put it in French.

It's a musical. Let the actors sing.

...Oh, I don't like that at all.

Please tell me the score will be inserted later.

The full version of I Dreamed A Dream

Didn't think she had it in her.

That's a polite way of saying "holy shit"

edited 21st Dec '12 2:56:10 AM by LE0Night

It's not meant to be realistic, it's meant to be acting, it allows for a congruence of film acting and singing. YMMV but realise that what they have gotten rid of is the number one complaint of musical theatre.

And here's the infamous Stars

He does just fine.

Hathaway is... okay. She at least has a lot of passion in her voice, and she's not a bad singer. I felt pretty moved by that, and I suspect I will be more so in the theater with visuals.

Crowe didn't sing with nearly as much passion, which a song like Stars requires. He's also not that great a singer, so... I don't know how I feel about that. But I'm sure they could've picked someone worse, and I liked Crowe okay in the clip of the Prologue that was released.

edited 21st Dec '12 11:00:58 AM by kalel94

Some Sort Of Trooper, if the number one complaint about musical theatre is "I don't like singing", then the solution is to abandon musical theatre or ignore the complaint, not to compromise by singing like shit. Singing is part of the conceit of musical theatre. Turning it into shit because people are unable to take it seriously is like "fixing" a fantasy story by making all of the magic low-key and unexciting, or like "fixing" an action movie by making the action low-key and unexciting. You're not even going to win over the people who don't like singing, because really, how many people are there who hate musicals but would be okay with them if only the singing were shittier? People who hate the concept of musicals will still hate the concept of musicals. The only people who are going to praise this Les Mis movie will be

A)Fans of Les Mis whose fandom loyalty is so intense that they refuse to seriously criticize a project on this scale.

B)People who hate the concept of the musical who are happy to see a musical cave into their demands. (They still won't enjoy it, but they'll praise it in the hopes of torpedoing future musicals.)

C)People who are tone-deaf.

It's possible to make a point without insulting people, you know.

I liked that clip just fine, except for the "I'M JEAN VALJEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAANNN!" at the end being spoken. I also really like the sets; they call top mind a low-budget TV historical drama more than a blockbuster movie, and I think that works in the film's favor. Gives it a uniqueness.

They're obviously trying to do something different. That's good, but the problem is this: We already had a serious, gritty Les Miserables. Look, if you're going to cast the stars of The Boy From Oz and Borat in your movie, I want some goddamn "belting out to the rafters" singing.

If people have issues with the structure of musicals, fuck them. Then they're just going to see the names.

I will say that many of the songs I've heard so far are a bit too... subdued for my liking. Had the same issue with Sweeney Todd; not nearly enough ham.

I just got back from seeing this at the 10 PM premiere (midnight openings are too mainstream I guess). Theater was packed. My view:

(note: I've never seen it live or read the book, though I do have the 10th anniversary concert on DVD and have seen the 25th on youtube)

I loved it. 9/10. True, some parts of the singing could've benefited from more oomph, especially at the beginning, and they did remove a few numbers (the constable's minisong, "Valjean's Arrest", and Thenardier's "Dog Eats Dog", for example), but the music was as amazing as ever. My favorite song, as always, was "One Day More", but I also really liked this movie's version of "The Confrontation". Every member of the cast was superb (including Crowe); Hathaway and Jackman earned those Golden Globe nominations (on the other hand I think Hathaway is getting too much attention, though that's a story for another day). While some of them were weaker than their stage equivalents vocally, they made up for it with the personality they brought to the film. The barricade scenes were also intense and gritty, and the ending had the entire theater in uproarious applause. This is tied with Argo for being the best film I've seen this year.

The only criticisms I have of the movie are flaws that were also present in the stage musical (admittedly there's a lot of them...), but I doubt any of you here will care about them, since you all seem to be fans of it. Plus, I'm just focusing on it as an adaptation. Oh, actually, there was one other thing I hated: the audience. They cheered six damn times, which is annoying in a movie.

edited 25th Dec '12 1:49:17 AM by CPFMfan

Why did you spoiler tag that?

I was tired and not thinking straight. Or something. I don't really know.

Force of habit?