Official Reviews (Spoiler Alert)

[birchie]

I thought this was a very well written and thoughtful review:
www.denverpost.com/movies/ci_22225953/hugh-jackmans-hero-makes-les-mis-eacute-rables

Movie review: Hugh Jackman's hero makes "Les Misérables" one of the year's finest
*** 1/2 STAR RATING (out of 4)
By Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post Film Critic

In "Les Misérables," Victor Hugo's 19th century historical novel and the behemoth, long-running musical based on it, the question raised again and again is not an obvious one. Because it doesn't really concern the hero's transformation.

No, the question isn't, will the ex-convict Jean Valjean remain a changed soul? Instead the quandary is, will Javert, the man who hunts him obsessively, recognize in Valjean's transformation an opportunity for his own redemption?

Director Tom Hooper's lavish yet gritty big-screen adaptation of the Tony-winning musical, opening Tuesday, stars Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe as Valjean and Javert, respectively. And the British director wields a decidedly visual language — vast and intimate — to tell the story of the nemeses, the ill-fated factory worker turned prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway) and her wee daughter Cosette.

Jackman is in his element here, mastering the space where acting and singing meet head on. He brings depth to Valjean's tale of offense and grace, of taking responsibility for a child and then letting go. Jackman makes Valjean's epiphanies, aches and doubts real. Late in the movie, his rendition of "Bring Him Home" has narrative heft, moving Valjean from fatherly rival to champion of his daughter's true love.

We meet Valjean shortly before his release from a chain gang. It is a few years since the French Revolution, and it's quickly clear that little wealth has trickled down to the masses, the poor, les misérables.

Valjean was imprisoned for failing (or not) the sort of dilemma rudimentary ethics classes like to pose: Would you break the law to help your starving sister and her child? He would and did. And so Valjean served five years for stealing a loaf of bread and another 14 for escape attempts. As he departs, head of the guards Javert promises him hell if he violates parole.

Like so many ex-convicts, Valjean returns to a suspicious society. A bishop (Colm Wilkinson) shows him compassion. Valjean disappoints us more than the bishop when he steals from the convent.

If you wonder how this often-grim adaptation of Hugo's socially thoughtful if romantic novel finds itself opening in theaters on Christmas Day, you need look no further than the meeting of Valjean and the bishop, who strikes a subtle Christian bargain with Valjean.

"Why settle for these trinkets, my son, have you forgotten these valuable candlesticks? Use them to better yourself and live a generous life," is the Christian bargain.

"What Have I Done?" sings an anguished and renewed Valjean.

Only no one sent Javert the memo. So begins one of the great hunts in literature. Valjean's every decency is met by Javert's righteousness. The inspector's singleminded adherence to the law becomes its own form of villainy.

They first meet again in Montreuil-sur-Mer, where Valjean owns a factory and has become the town's benevolent mayor. He has taken the name Monsieur Madeleine.

Hathaway brings a radiance and sorrow to Fantine, the onetime employee Valjean aids too late to save — but not too late to become caretaker to her child.

When the action relocates to Paris nine years later, Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette. It's a wan performance amid more robust turns. It's as if Valjean protected his beloved ward so much, she lacks any signs of the hard-won grit of her dead mother or her adoptive father. Indeed you may find yourself rooting for the more destitute Éponine (Samantha Barks) who hankers for Marius, the student revolutionary.

Marius and Cosette's love-at-first-sight story rings tinny next to Hugo's grander themes of justice and grace. Eddie Redmayne, with his smattering of freckles and wide, inviting mouth, appeals as the well-off, radicalized student Marius. But his object of affection seems less inspiring than the ideals that send he, friend Enjolras (Aaron Tveit) and their fellow students to the barricades.

The students provide two of the film's finest songs: the gorgeous anthem "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and the ballad of camaraderie sung on the eve of a bloody street battle, "Drink With Me."

When Marius returns to the scene of so much carnage, he sings the lovely and mournful "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables."

Through out the saga, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter take sleazy delight in their roles as Thénardier and Madame Thénardier, the innkeepers who fleeced Fantine as they cared for the child Cosette.

Hooper and his team, which includes the original creators of the musical behemoth (producer Cameron Mackintosh and composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, among them), have hewed to the sung-through form. Further adding to the challenge and texture of the undertaking, Hooper had the actors sing live.The result is not always pretty. Far from being a problem, this adds to the movie's force. There is real exertion going on here.

Much will be made of Crowe's capable but hardly astounding singing. The notes the actor doesn't hit in song, he captures in his face. Javert is the only one that doesn't know how wounded he is by his past, how out of tune with France's future he is.

I thought it interesting that she focused more on the 2 main characters. I also liked how she honored the fact that real work was involved in the live singing that was done. I can forgive her slight error in calling the Bishop's home a convent because the piece is thoughtfully done and different from so many others.

She gets Javert. I've seen (too) so many reviews that say something like "Crowe is so stiff as Javert..." Well, Javert IS stiff and dogged and totally unable to see how a person can change and find redemption. That is the point, so if he's stiff I'd say Russell gets the point. I did tell my son that it's one of the things I'm most curious about when I see the movie. I don't expect great singing from him but I think the acting will be right on. Oddly enough, I base that on the negative remarks I've read. LOL!

Of course, I may be so blinded by Hugh's great performance that I won't remember to pay attention to the other performances so I may have to do that on the second or third viewing!
Sue

[jo]

From a true fan of Les Miserables - Pat Cerasaro of BroadwayWorld -- very insightful and fully appreciative of the differences and similarities with the stage musical! Sounds like it was written from the heart

broadwayworld.com/article/FLASH-SPECIAL-LES-MISERABLES-Triumphantly-Journeys-On-From-Page-To-Stage-To-Screen-20121221

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Friday, December 21, 2012; 12:12 PM - by Pat Cerasaro


Christmas Day 2012 marks the biggest and best day of the year for many Broadway babies around the world, but the anticipatory fervor has little to do with the man with the beard in red and white from the North Pole - you see, the guy in question in this equation is more apt to be seen in red and black and his origins are decidedly a bit more Gallic than Jolly Old St. Nick. The man whom I speak of is, of course, Jean Valjean, the protagonist of Victor Hugo's spellbinding 1862 historical epic LES MISERABLES, a novel which was subsequently adapted into a 1980 concert spectacular and ultimately a 1985 full-fledged stage musical, painstakingly developed through the shepherding of uber producer Cameron Mackintosh, alongside the talents responsible for breathing song into the story - original French composer/lyricist team Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (along with Jean-Marc Natel), to whom Mackintosh added English lyricist Herbert Kretzmer (and also contributor James Fenton). Through a special partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, LES MISERABLES: THE MUSICAL premiered at the Barbican Theatre in the West End soon thereafter under the direction of Trevor Nunn and John Caird and opened to largely negative reviews, albeit ecstatic, ebullient audiences. Broadway was next, where it went on to win Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Featured Actress & Actor and even more (eight total). LES MISERABLES onstage was a hit like few others from then on and the rest, ze say, is history - or, in this case, l'histoire.

Yet, on Christmas Day, the next step in the evolution of the worldwide phenomenon commonly and colloquially known as LES MIZ will occur - just days after the Mayan-predicted end of days, no less - and the movie musical adaptation of the stage show will finally become a reality, featuring an all-star cast comprised of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, among others. The time has come to hear the people sing onscreen at long, long last. But, first, how is the film?

While many MIZ-heads may have assumed the film adaptation of their beloved musical would never actually come to fruition in their lifetimes, here it really is, all too soon available for all to see - lo, more than twenty years after it was first announced to hit the screen, byway of an official promo ad in a tour souvenir program going as far back as the late-late-1980s. I was fortunate enough to catch an advance screening of LES MISERABLES during the dawning days of December and many small character moments and details, full musical sequences and the overall grandiloquent grandiosity of it all has filled me with a special brand of inexpressible, enrapturing ecstasy heretofore never experienced, coming mostly as a direct result, no doubt, of the sheer force of power the film exacts in its relentless, barreling, blazingly bravado-bedecked style - a style, I can firmly say, is completely alone in all of movie history. LES MISERABLES on film is a lot of things, but, first and foremost, it is that which it is unlike that makes it most remarkable of all; that is: it is unlike any movie musical ever made. And, it is a masterpiece.

Bring Us Home

"If I die, let me die / Let him live," sings Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) at one of the most pivotal dramatic moments in the mostly sung-through and devotedly faithful movie musical adaptation of the world's second most successful musical of all time, LES MISERABLES. The song, "Bring Him Home", is a prayer to God - a request - to grant grace upon a boy's kind soul and let him live to fight another day and see another dawn, somehow, someway - and, one could quite justifiably say that it is the same sort of passionate plea to the heavens that that character oh-so emotively and compellingly emits in the capable hands and steely cords of Jackman's Jean Valjean that many a fan of LES MISERABLES the stage musical themselves have felt and perhaps even have uttered in regards to a potential movie version someday. Indeed, all we have ever wanted was the perfect screen version of LES MISERABLES, right? That's all. We yearn for a big-bodied, full-out, singing-in-the-sewars movie musical rife with the vigorous excitement and epically emotionally expressive elements afforded to the stage adaptation as it exists, just blown up and expertly, brilliantly designed for film. Is all of that just too much to ask? Apparently not.

Well, while Tom Hooper's incredibly daring and impossibly authentically LES MIZ-ian film adaptation of the musical may not be precisely that - perfect - for many die-hard fans seeking a carbon copy of the stage show or perhaps a more accurate rendering of the novel - or even something generally resembling the tried and true tropes of the Trevor Nunn/John Caird original - what Hooper, Mackintosh and the commendable cast and crew have created is the perfect LES MISERABLES movie musical existing on its own terms. Yes, it is 90% identical to the stage show (with one new song, the sensitive "Suddenly") - but, it feels different. Much different. A world away, actually. It feels fresh and new and somehow also like it has always existed - a contradiction in terms, no doubt, but there it is. This is not a replica of the stage show, but it is entirely true to it in every way.

Now, to get down to the nuts and bolts and predictions that run rampant and have become all too de rigeur this time of year - will it work for all film fans? Truth be told, probably not all of them - early reviews have been wildly inconsistent and critics have never taken kindly to the musical property, so that is a futile barometer to consider anyway; yet, Fandango has reported the film is the best-selling Christmas event ever in the history of advanced tickets, so it seems that once again the public will be the ones to decide its fate. Furthermore, will the film work for all theatre fans? Maybe not - the nature of the in-the-moment live singing makes for more sheer visceral emotional believability from the actors while performing musical material than any movie musical in my memory, and, as a result, the performers commit portrayals of their rich roles simultaneously theatrical and cinematic, but that does not neccessarily mean it always sounds pretty. The audio authenticity reflects life, in all its manifestations and variations - poor, pretty, perfect; and, everything in between. After all, as many of us experience daily, life during a war and a depression is far from pretty - especially as reflected in this zeitgeist-targeted and modern metaphor-hitting story.

Case in point: Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed A Dream". Is this the most singularly astonishing movie musical moment of the new era, which was begun roughly ten years ago with MOULIN ROUGE and CHICAGO and followed up with everything from RENT to HAIRSPRAY to DREAMGIRLS to ROCK OF AGES since? Well, Miss Hathaway certainly gives Jennifer Hudson a run for Effie's payola. But, why even compare the two? Hathaway is masterful and instantly conjurs pure movie musical magic from out of thin, thin air and knocks it all clear out of the park. Hugh Jackman is, in a word, titanic as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe is aptly formidable with a frosty edge as Javert. Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne make major marks as Cossette and Marius - no small feat, actually - but Aaron Tveit is undeniably the standout of all the young cast members, embodying a ravishingly sung, rousing and youthful Enjorlas. Additionally, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter provide just the right comic touch as les Thenardiers in their big moments to lighten the admittedly black-as-night proceedings. So, too, does Samantha Barks as Eponine emphatically enliven the second half of the enterprise with her short-lived but note-perfect, sensationally essayed portrayal of her role. Hooper's claustrophobic, in-their-face close-up filming style for much of the singing, especially when married with the astoundingly gritty and shockingly authentic costume, scene and sound design, collectively creates an anomalously affecting and nearly too-real atmosphere. It hits you in the gut and it is impossible to relate the sheer force that LES MISERABLES is able to have upon you if you give yourself over to it completely and willingly for 150 minutes or so - it is a steam train in how hard it plosively hits you and a scalpel in how delicately it can cut to so very many parts of the heart in an instant. Dark, yes - but that makes the hope and light all the whiter and purer. There is a whole heaven of a lot of redemption and glory by the final reel to go with the hellish blood, guts, gore and depression that abounds.

Resolutely, Tom Hooper's LES MISERABLES is unlike any movie musical ever before, but, also, it magnifies the best aspects of both theatre and film at their best, too - the many one-shot and minimally-covered songs display the actors nakedly alone in their element, unadorned and unencumbered by elaborate lighting and sets and choreography all too often seen onstage and onscreen, to say nothing of camera trickery and flash-cut editing so prevalent in many modern movie musicals. The songs are allowed to shine and the emotion allowed to flow. And flow. On that note, LES MISERABLES is more or less the anti-CHICAGO insofar as razzle dazzle and Broadway razzmatazz go - but, good God, what a trade-off! Yes, LES MIZ is at the opposite end of the spectrum from CHICAGO in almost every way but one, that is: it, too, invents its own film language and exists as its own idiosyncratic film animal in the vast zoo of the great cinematic pantheon.

So, what kind of bird or beast is LES MISERABLES exactly? A lion. A dove. A whale.

And, most of all, a man.

How to put one of the lengthiest and most inherently theatrically designed, enacted and acted stage spectacles of the 1980s mega-musical era up on the big screen and make it feel immediate, authentic and really hit home for a 2012 movie-going audience? That was the gambit and Mackintosh and Hooper took the challenge on with apparent relish and have managed to not only hit a home run, but reinvent the game itself in the process. A true coup.

An epic achievement like virtually no other, do not miss LES MISERABLES this Christmas - it is as good as movie musicals get and the next step towards the future for the form...

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Ahhh....

Jo

[Kelly]

Eee gads, what an adjective ridden verbose review. But I hope the voters read it!

[jo]

And Peter Travers of Rolling Stone is loving it! And because it comes from an unlikely source ( pop culture), I give it a >


www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/les-miserables-20121221

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Les Misérables
Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway
Directed by Tom Hooper

Rolling Stone:star rating
3.5 out of 4

By Peter Travers
December 21, 2012


No one expects gutsy filmmaking in a musical. But that's just what King's Speech Oscar winner Tom Hooper delivers in Les Misérables. The massive 1980s stage smash is adapted from Victor Hugo's even more massive 1862 novel spun around the 1832 Paris student uprising. There's no spoken dialogue! Everyone sings! All the time! For nearly three hours! Think rock opera, like the Who's Tommy. If that drives you nuts, screw off and see the stupid Twilight finale again.

What helps make Les Misérables so vibrant and thrilling onscreen is Hooper's daring decision to have his actors sing live. No mouthing the words to prerecorded songs. The actors wore earpieces to hear a piano give them tempo. A 70-piece orchestra was added later to bring out the beauty and thunder in the score, by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer. The risk pays off. The singing isn't slick. It sometimes sounds raw and roughed up, which is all to the good. It sure as hell brings out the best in the actors.

A never-better Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, locked up for nearly 20 years for stealing a loaf of bread. The convict known as 24601 escapes and makes a respectable life for himself as a small-town mayor. But he can't rest. Hunted relentlessly by the policeman Javert (Russell Crowe), Valjean is almost caught again when he tries to help poor, doomed Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a factory girl who sells her hair, her teeth and her body to support her child, Cosette. A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how "life has killed the dream I dreamed." Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it.

It's up to Valjean to save Cosette from the clutches of the Thénardiers, greedy innkeepers who treat Cosette like a slave while spoiling their daughter, Éponine. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter play this gruesome twosome with delicious mirth and malice. But Valjean has a job to do raising the grown Cosette (a sublime Amanda Seyfried) and worrying about her falling for Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a handsome student rebel who also has Éponine (a wondrous Samantha Barks) pining vainly for his love.

Look, I'm out of breath squeezing in all this plot, and sometimes so is the movie. Plot exposition is even harder when you sing it, and I haven't even gotten into the student revolt yet or the heroic part played in it by the street urchin Gavroche (scene-stealing 12-year-old Daniel Huttlestone) and the student leader Enjolras (a stirring Aaron Tveit). But Hooper's cast is up for every challenge. Jackman and Hathaway are Academy all the way. And Crowe, who did The Rocky Horror Picture Show onstage in his youth, brings lonely grandeur to Javert's anthem, "Stars." Redmayne also deserves a piece of the awards pie for the soulful ache he brings to the love story and his lost brothers ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous.

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I am really liking how the later reviews are now fully appreciative of what Hugh has done for the movie. If there is anything Les Miserables will do for Hugh's film career ( whether he gets an Oscar nod, let alone a win!) it is the full recognition that he has what it takes to be considered a topnotch actor! A very versatile actor at that! I hope this means that many excellent scripts will come his way more after this exposition of his talent!

Jo

[jo]

We have already read a first AICN review, which was quite positive.

Now Head Geek himself, Harry Knowles, has written how he fell in love with the movie - only seen it 5 times!

www.aintitcool.com/node/60147

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Harry was a complete Les Misérables Virgin, then he saw the movie a bunch & can't stop badly singing the songs!

Published at: Dec 23, 2012 1:28:16 AM CST




Before I write a word of what I think of this film you need to know that I have not seen the Broadway sensation upon which it is an adaptation, but I am very familiar with Victor Hugo’s work and the various dramatic interpretations. My first experience with the material was in CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. I read that adaptation with art by Rolland Livingstone – and for many years, that was LES MISERABLES. The cover had no accent upon the second E.



Then there’s Tom Hooper. If you remember I was the solitary jackass that didn’t go gaga for his film, KING’S SPEECH. I thought it was a fine film, just not near the best film of the year. So throughtout the production of this – I was nowhere near as enthused about it as Moises here.



Then I got sent my screener of the film. I get sent a ton of screeners, because I vote in the Austin Film Critic Association awards – and as part of that, you get sent screeners for films. I really wish I’d seen the film in theaters, but at the same time, what I’ve had with this film is something that I can describe as an intimate discovery.



I love Les Misérables.



The first time I watched it I didn’t know a single song. I had no prejudice for the material. I fell for the film. It is directed by Tom Hooper in a fashion that evokes what Alan Parker did with EVITA, except more intimate. Hooper is big on putting the camera right there close to the performance. He loves to capture the performers living every lyric and thinking about all of it.



When you see Anne Hathaway’s Fantine sing, you’ll totally understand what I’m thinking… but the same is true of Jackman’s Jean Valjean… a performance so robust that I now feel that Hugh Jackman should never be allowed to say a single line, he should sing it. I’d love an angry Wolverine musical. But then I generally love a great musical. I love the form. Hell, even as I write this I’m watching GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937, which isn’t necessarily near the top of Busby’s output, but it is a wonderful diversion. Tap dancing on a giant rocking chair does it for me. Sorry. But Les Misérables is less rock n roll in its delivery than EVITA, instead Les Misérables feels like a legend given song. It’s the legend of Jean Valjean, and it is truly beautiful.



The songs are sweeping. Samantha Barks’s Eponine, breaks your heart. She’s amazing. Amanda Seyfried, who knew she could hit these notes. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the THenardiers crack me up and are a light diversion.



That said though, the film belongs to Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. They suffer and sing. Their desperation and heartache comes out through the songs.



Now, because I know I’m an idiot regarding the musical Les Misérables, I have watched it with a couple of hardcore fans. The first was fully prepared to sing every song. She was a huge fan, but it was so much fun to watch Hathaway silence her. Anne makes Fantine’s songs such an intimate and soulful part of her existence in this film, that I watched her silence someone that loves to sing this stuff. Then later, I watched it with a couple that seem to know every performer – and when Colm Wilkinson’s Bishop sings a different lyric, they were angry. SO realize, they do change some things, but it’s lost on me, as this film is how I came to love Les Misérables.



I’ve seen the film about 5 times thus far. I do know the songs as they exist in the film and they’re powerful stuff. The epic tale of Jean Valjean is amazing, be it sung or be it read.



For me, this is how I discovered and fell in love with the musical and I know, I know… painfully late to the game, but better late than never. Friends have already reached out and have made sure I have all the music from the stage… But right now, I tell you – when I shut my eyes and sing these songs, it is their faces that I see.



And now… Let’s talk about Russell Crowe’s Javert. Upon first watching, I found him a bit stilted. I mean, when you first watch this film – it’s hard for anyone to really grab your attention when you have Hugh Jackman just kicking ass as Jean Valjean. This is what he made instead of Aronofsky’s THE WOLVERINE, but he was in shape for that, so Valjean, seems as strong as they say. And for my money, Hugh Jackman’s Jean Valjean is his best Wolverine yet – sewers and all. Even if he looks a bit more Black King than Wolvie! Anyway, let’s get back on to discussing Javert. In my third viewing of Les Misérables, I suddenly really picked up on the genius that Crowe is putting into this. He plays Javert a bit like Lt. Ed Exley than his Bud White. He’s a true shooter. He only knows, YOU HAVE BROKE THE LAW. He’s a boy scout. Javert is the stick in the mud. The strong arm of the law that isn’t there to forgive or bend for you. Javert is THE MAN. And as we all know, we hate THE MAN. THE MAN fucking sucks. THE MAN will infiltrate and betray a revolution. And really, we’re all about the fucking revolution. Luke Skywalker fights for the revolution. However, Javert knows he’s right, and there’s nothing more dangerous than THE MAN that knows he’s right. It gives him no wiggle room. JAVERT is not us. He’s not the viewer that has seen the awesome that is Jean Valjean. He only sees Prisoner Number 24601. A man he chases and puts back in chains.



SO, Crowe isn’t playing a character that we’re supposed to like, but over the course of the film, his arc is just fascinating to me. I love how Crowe sings his songs with a self-righteous conviction – he has an air above the filth in the streets. He is JAVERT. He refers and thinks of himself in the Third person. His own name has such meaning to him. But he’s a man that has very strict convictions and what he sees over his story, which is to hunt Jean Valjean. It profoundly affects him.



Because the story of Jean Valjean, a man who wasn’t trying to revolt. He was in his soul a good man, but it is the story of Jean Valjean that gives meaning to this revolution. If a man that is trying to live such a just life is punished by a society that cares not about context. That doesn’t seek to understand. That is a government to rebel against – and for me, the songs, the performances, the production design and the spirit of the film sell it.



As much as I went a bit blah on THE KING’S SPEECH, I’m high as a kite for this flick. From those sweeping opening shots to that crazy last shot. Probably the most fun conversation I had about the ending of the film with some Broadway lovers is still my favorite conversation about Les Misérables. That said, I’ll save it for the Blu Ray write up next year, as to not be a complete spoiler bastard here. I’ll just say it has to do with Javert’s absence from the end number. Leave it at that. We speculated wildly about why. Have fun with it.

I do not guarantee you’ll have the same experience with the film if you’re intimately familiar with the musical, though I do know 3 that loved and 2 that were wishy washy. As a complete Les Misérables Virgin, I thought this was awesome stuff. Looks like the film is headed to a huge success. It totally deserves anything it gets.

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Well, whaddaya know ;D ;D

Jo

[klenotka]

He obviously fell for Hugh as well

[jo]

From The LA Times --

www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-les-miserables-20121225,0,7403253.story

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Review: Vive 'Les Miserables' in all its over-the-top glory

Tom Hooper's 'Les Miserables' lands with such epic scale, it's hard to object to the operatic-sized sentiments voiced by the compelling Hugh Jackman and others.


Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean in the movie "Les Miserables." (Universal Pictures / October 22, 2012)



By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
December 24, 2012, 12:00 p.m.



The people who put "Les Misérables" on screen dreamed a mighty dream, they really did. They dreamed of filming one of the most popular of modern theatrical musicals — 60 million tickets sold in 42 countries and 21 languages since its 1980 Paris debut — in a way that had not been done before, enhancing the emotion of what was already a hugely emotional piece. And, despite some built-in obstacles, they succeeded to a surprising extent.

The biggest obstacle to their success, paradoxically, was the show itself, a whopper of a tale wrestled from Victor Hugo's massive novel. Though the production's songs are celebrated, the dialogue between them is not, while the plot veers toward shameless and the characters can come off as one-dimensional.

To counter all this, director Tom Hooper (in his first film since the Oscar-winning "The King's Speech") has doubled down on the piece's greatest strength, finding ways to magnify the musical's ability to create those waves of overwhelming feelings in an audience. So if unashamed, operatic-sized sentiments are not your style, this "Les Miz" is not going to make you happy.

PHOTOS: 'Les Miserables' | New York premiere

Working from a script by William Nicholson and the creators of the English-language version (Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer), Hooper has first of all fearlessly opened the play up, convincingly placing it in an indisputably real world. From its first scene, a fantastic image of a horde of French convicts, circa 1815, trying to pull a floundering ship into an enormous dry dock in the midst of a mighty storm, this production is visual to the max, with an epic physical scale and grandeur the play couldn't possibly have.

The second strategy employed was to sign the best, most convincing actors for these unsophisticated roles and to assist them in making the characters real by investing in them heart and soul. For protagonist Jean Valjean, that meant the protean Hugh Jackman, initially unrecognizable as a full-bearded emaciated convict — No. 24601 to be precise — who is part of the crowd wrestling with the struggling vessel.

Jackman's lean and hungry look was no accident, the actor has said, relating that director Hooper told him, "I need you to get to where your friends stop you and ask, 'Are you OK? Are you sick?' Until you get to that point, you haven't gone far enough."

Also front and center in that initial scene is Javert, the cold-hearted representative of the law, here played by Russell Crowe, an actor who pretty much defines implacable. Once the boat is safely hauled in, Javert tells Valjean that, after serving 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, he is being released, albeit to a life of constantly being marked as a dangerous ex-convict. "Do not forget my name," Javert says to the man, as if that were even an option.

VIDEO: The Envelope Screening Series | 'Les Miserables'

Except Crowe's Javert doesn't say it, he sings it right there in front of us. Perhaps the key change Hooper made in the way movie musicals are usually put together is his insistence that the singing the audience hears is the actors performing live on the set at the time of filming, not weeks earlier in a recording studio. That allows them to bring the rich emotion of their entire performances to celebrated songs such as "Who Am I" and "One Day More."

Hooper believes, as he told an early Los Angeles screening audience, that "singing gives access to a deeper emotional range," but that doesn't mean that this was in any way easy. The director revealed that the actors wore two radio microphones outside their costumes, so that no matter which way their heads turned, the sound would be accurately recorded. All that remained was to "digitally paint them out" frame by frame by frame.

All that painstaking work was definitely worthwhile, making the singing as intense and personal as possible, something that pays off as "Les Misérables'" way melodramatic plot gets increasingly wild and crazy.

The scene now shifts to 1823 and a town in France where, helped by a kindly bishop (Colm Wilkinson, the original London and Broadway Valjean) and his own decision to break parole, Valjean has taken on a new identity and become a wealthy factory owner. Easy street, however, is about to end.

For one thing, Javert turns up in town, and he smells a rat. For another, one of Valjean's female employees, Fantine, is wrongfully sacked and ends up selling her hair and her teeth and becoming a prostitute. Though this series of events practically defines over-the-top plotting, Anne Hathaway, who plays Fantine, does such a knockout rendition of the showstopper "I Dreamed a Dream" that objecting is out of the question.

PHOTOS: Hollywood back lot moments

Forced to flee town, Valjean vows to raise Fantine's illegitimate daughter, ultimate waif Cosette (Isabelle Allen), as his own. First however, he has to pry her out of the hands of ultimate rascals Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter in the "Master of the House" number that is not as much fun as it thinks it is.

All these plot strands come together nine years later in Paris of 1832, where Cosette, now a beautiful young woman (Amanda Seyfried), catches the eye of passionate would-be revolutionary Marius (a terrific Eddie Redmayne, who does a splendid "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). He in turn is admired from afar by the lovelorn Eponine (Samantha Barks, equally good in "On My Own"). Will love conquer all? Do you even have to ask?

Because it is so shameless and so popular, "Les Misérables" and its "to love another person is to see the face of God" theme are tailor-made for mockery. But despite its pitfalls, this movie musical is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir.

---------------------------------

'Les Miserables'

MPAA rating: PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements

Running time: 2 hours, 38 minutes

Playing: In general release

[e-mail]


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Jo

[carouselkathy]

I have been holding my breath to see what Kenneth Turan would say.
His review reveals an appreciation for the great undertaking this film represents. Oh boy!

[jo]

The San Francisco Examiner's review --

www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/movies/2012/12/les-miz-big-bold-emotional-movie-musical

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'Les Miz' a big, bold, emotional movie musical


By:Anita Katz | 12/24/12 4:06 PM
Special to TheSF Examiner.



Men of song: Russell Crowe, left, and the more tuneful Hugh Jackman play famed rivals Javert and Valjean in the new movie musical version of “Les Miserables.”


As its redemptive hero toils on a chain gang, traverses a mountain, trudges through sewers and enters a revolutionary barricade, (among other intense trials), the movie musical “Les Miserables” is a zero-subtlety spectacle for the Occupy age and the current Oscar-campaign climes.

But it also is a risk-taking and frequently affecting movie that sings its not entirely artificial heart out.

Directed by Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) and adapted from the Cameron Mackintosh-produced Broadway sensation based on Victor Hugo’s massive novel, the film differs from most movie musicals: It is entirely sung, rather than sung and spoken, and sung live by the actors rather than prerecorded and lip-synced.

The results, like a considerable amount of the film, have rough aspects but contain crucial emotional goods.

Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean, who, in 1815, is a bearded chain-gang convict sentenced 19 years prior for stealing bread. He is released but breaks parole and consequently triggers the relentless pursuit of the policeman Javert (Russell Crowe).

A bishop’s kindness inspires Valjean to abandon his thieving ways. He becomes a respectable mayor and a loving father to Cosette, the young daughter of Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a dying cast-out factory worker who sells her hair, her teeth and her body to survive.

The grown-up Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) falls in love with Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a revolutionary involved in the 1832 uprising. In the barricade, Valjean encounters Javert and demonstrates impressive inner character.

Additional heroics, including the famed sewer episode, solidify Valjean’s salvation.

Hooper serves up ample spectacle – CGI scenery, ambitious theatrical staging, Dickensian poverty – which sometimes eclipses the characters.

The Valjean-Javert tension, already compromised by mismatched performances of musical-theater-versed Jackman and the more limited Crowe, particularly suffers.

Additionally, Hooper and four screenwriters devote excessive time to Seyfried’s Cosette, a bland character who serves primarily as an object of fatherly and romantic affection.

But there is enough here, from the gritty Parisian streets to the contemporary appeal of the student uprising, that hooks, and holds, viewers.

Echoing his “King’s Speech” achievements, Hooper makes the material moving and human simply by putting the camera on his able actors and letting them work. The live-singing approach, once you get used to the super-close-ups accompanying it, yields an intimacy and emotional charge.

Jackman, who can sing and act, is an ideal anchor. Hathaway, whose Fantine exists largely to personify misery, delivers the quality, vibrantly, and the showstopper “I Dreamed a Dream” – though you wish the TB-stricken Fantine’s movie-star glow were toned down.

Redmayne, soulfully singing “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” also stands out.

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, playing the swindling innkeepers and singing “Master of the House,” provide colorful comic relief.

REVIEW
Les Miserables
three stars
Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried
Written by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer
Directed by Tom Hooper
Rated PG-13
Running time 2 hours 32 minutes

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Jo

[jo]

The other paper, the San Francisco Examiner is more skeptical -- it is all about the singing, the source material...and er...the accents


www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Les-Mis-rables-review-noble-experiment-4143930.php


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'Les Misérables' review: noble experiment



Mick LaSalle

Updated 2:55 pm, Monday, December 24, 2012

Musical drama. Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne. Directed by Tom Hooper. (PG-13. 157 minutes.)

At the heart of the "Les Misérables" movie was a good idea that just didn't work out this time. The idea was that the actors should sing their songs live on camera.

In almost every other musical you've ever seen, the actors lip-sync to a recorded track, but singing live offers the possibility for more risk and excitement, along with spontaneous acting moments that simply can't happen if an actor has to think about moving his lips a certain way. To some degree, director Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech") got what he was looking for. Anne Hathaway's version of "I Dreamed a Dream," for example, is very in-the-moment, with an emotional freshness you rarely see in musicals.

But with every gain, there is a loss. Most of the songs in "Les Misérables" are contemplative - internal monologues that, translated to film, lend themselves to close-up. In close-up the actors sing as they would speak to someone close by, quietly and naturalistically. In the case of Hathaway, the close scrutiny takes the grandeur out of her big song, and though the quality of her acting is indisputable, she sobs through half of it. You know what they say on Broadway: When there are tears on the stage, there are dry eyes in the house.

Yet Hathaway thrives compared with Hugh Jackman, on whose performance as Jean Valjean the entire film turns. As anyone who has ever heard him knows, Jackman, when he sings in full voice, has a high, pinging, pleasing tenor that's a precision instrument. It's a voice that can thrill an audience. But for most of "Les Misérables," he is in half voice, singing in close-up, and in half-voice Jackman is a disaster. His voice quavers and wobbles in and out of tune. There are times in "Les Misérables" where you might think the music is an experiment in atonal composition. But no, that's Jackman.

One measure of just how unmanned Jackman is by this restraint is that Russell Crowe, as Valjean's nemesis Inspector Javert, often sounds no worse than Jackman does, and Crowe can't sing to save his life. Crowe can act, however, and he can treat "Les Misérables" as though it were just another dramatic film, albeit with singing, which it is. That's a problem.

An adaptation of the stage musical, which was in turn adapted from the eponymous Victor Hugo novel, "Les Misérables" tells the story of Valjean, who is released from prison having done time for stealing a loaf of bread. After he breaks the law again, he spends the rest of his life on the run, living under an assumed name and trying to escape the reach of Javert, who isn't cruel so much as infuriatingly unimaginative. His plodding, dogmatic adherence to the law is contrasted with Valjean's impulsive compassion, with Valjean emerging as the true (unconscious) Christian and Javert as the true (unconscious) monster.

Such a metaphysical story cries out for a heightened atmosphere, one that you might find in a stage musical. Unfortunately, the transplanting of material from one medium to another is always a delicate procedure, and sometimes the patient dies. In the case of "Les Misérables," film literalizes the story and makes maudlin or ridiculous that which might have seemed poetic on the stage. The notion of Valjean's having served time for stealing bread loses its metaphorical significance and seems more like a hard luck story that Valjean just won't stop harping on. Likewise, the young revolutionaries in Act II - hiding behind barricades and fighting the entire French army - don't seem like heroes so much as idiots getting themselves slaughtered for no good reason.

The cast is more than adequate - Eddie Redmayne and Amanda Seyfried as the young lovers, Samantha Barks as the forlorn Eponine - but they're trapped within a design in which the characters seem to care more about their problems than the audience. Likewise, we might say nice things about Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as lowdown cockney innkeepers, but the real conversation we should be having is whether those characters should have been included in the movie at all.

We also might want to ask why all these French characters not only have English accents but are presented as stock British types. The French and the English are not exactly interchangeable, as we all know from the Middle Ages.

When Bob Fosse made "Cabaret," he completely reimagined it for the screen. He threw out songs and added a song - "Maybe This Time" - and the result was a classic film. Hooper, by contrast, essentially blows out the stage "Les Misérables" into a big gorgeous blockbuster, but it's a straight conversion, such that you can still see the act break. He doesn't account for inconvenient details, for example that on screen, it's not wise to play the same scene over and over (e.g., Javert shows up, Valjean escapes). Nor is it a good idea to have three ballads in a row.

Fans of "Les Misérables" wouldn't have minded if the movie were different, but better, or just as effective. The screen version demanded some reconception, some vision to make sense of its existence. Instead, we're left with a film that is conscientious in all its particulars and yet strangely and mysteriously dead.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicle's movie critic. E-mail: [e-mail]


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What about the acting, Sir???

And Cabaret ain't no Les Miserables! Not in richness of scope, character diversity, or historical perspective, Sir !!!

Jo

[jo]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was exhausted by the movie, too

movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/movies/les-miserables-stars-anne-hathaway-and-hugh-jackman.html

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The Wretched Lift Their Voices

‘Les Misérables’ Stars Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman


Laurie Sparham/Universal Pictures

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables.”

By MANOHLA DARGIS

Published: December 24, 2012


In the first long act of “Les Misérables,” Anne Hathaway opens her mouth, and the agony, passion and violence that have decorously idled in the background of this all-singing, all-suffering pop opera pour out. It’s a gusher! She’s playing Fantine, the factory worker turned prostitute turned martyr, and singing the showstopping “I Dreamed a Dream,” her gaunt face splotched red and brown. The artful grunge layered onto the cast can be a distraction, as you imagine assistant dirt wranglers anxiously hovering off camera. Ms. Hathaway, though, holds you rapt with raw, trembling emotion. She devours the song, the scene, the movie, and turns her astonishing, cavernous mouth into a vision of the void.

The director Tom Hooper can be a maddening busybody behind the camera, but this is one number in which he doesn’t try to upstage his performers. Maybe he was worried that Ms. Hathaway would wolf him down too. Whatever the case, he keeps it relatively simple. Moving the camera slightly with her — she lurches somewhat out of frame at one point, suggesting a violent, existential wrenching — he shoots the song in a head-and-shoulder close-up, with the background blurred. By that point, with her dignity and most of her pretty hair gone, Fantine has fallen as far as she can. She has become one of the abject castaways of the musical’s title, a wretched of the earth.

Written by Alain Boublil and the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg (with English-language lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer), the musical “Les Misérables” is of course one really big show, perhaps the biggest and certainly one of the longest-running. Its Web site hints at its reach: Since the English-language version was first performed in London in 1985, it has been translated into 21 languages, performed in 43 countries, won almost 100 awards (Tony, Grammy) and been seen by more than 60 million people. In 1996 Hong Kong mourners sang “Do You Hear the People Sing” to memorialize Tiananmen Square. In 2009 the awkward duckling Susan Boyle became a swan and a world brand with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on the television show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Somewhere amid the grime, power ballads and surging strings there is also Victor Hugo, whose monumental 1862 humanistic novel, “Les Misérables,” was, along with the musical “Oliver!,” Mr. Boublil’s original inspiration. Like the show, Mr. Hooper’s movie opens in 1815 and closes shortly after the quashed June Rebellion of 1832, boiling the story down to a pair of intertwined relationships.

The first pivots on the antagonism of a onetime prison guard, now inspector, Javert (Russell Crowe, strained) toward a former convict, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, earnest); the second involves the love-at-first-sight swooning between Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a revolutionary firebrand. As a child, Cossette was rescued by Valjean from her caretakers, the Thénardiers (the energetic Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, who nicely stir, and stink up, the air).

Part of the tug of “Les Misérables” is that it recounts a familiar, reassuring story of oppression, liberation and redemption, complete with period costumes and tear-yanking songs. Georges Sand apparently felt that there was too much Christianity in Hugo’s novel; Mr. Hooper seems to have felt that there wasn’t enough in the musical and, using his camera like a Magic Marker, repeatedly underlines the religious themes that are already narratively and lyrically manifest. In the first number (“Look Down”), set against a digitally enhanced, visibly artificial port, Valjean helps haul an enormous ship into a dock. Dressed mainly in cardinal red, the prisoners pull on ropes, while singing during a lashing rain, with Javert glaring down at them. (And, yes, he will fall.)

By the time the scene ends, Valjean hasn’t just been handed his release papers after 19 years as a prisoner, he has also become a Christ figure, hoisting a preposterously large wooden pole on to his shoulder. Mr. Hooper’s maximalist approach is evident the very moment the scene begins — the camera swooping, as waves and music crash — setting an overblown tone that rarely quiets. His work in this passage, from the roller-coaster moves of the cameras to the loud incidental noise that muffles the lyrics, undermines his actors and begins to push the musical from spectacle toward bloat. Mr. Jackman suffers the most from Mr. Hooper’s approach, as when Valjean paces up and down a hallway while delivering “What Have I Done,” a to-and-fro that witlessly, needlessly, literalizes the character’s internal struggle.

Mr. Hooper’s decision to shoot the singing live, as opposed to recording everything in postproduction, as has been customary in movie musicals since the 1930s, yields benefits. That’s especially the case with Ms. Hathaway, Mr. Redmayne and Daniel Huttlestone, a scene-stealer who plays the Thénardiers’ young son. (This isn’t the first contemporary musical to resurrect the practice of live singing, which was used for both Peter Bogdanovich’s “At Long Last Love” and Alan Parker’s “Commitments.”) It’s touching, watching performers like Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Redmayne giving it their all, complete with quavering chins and straining tendons. Mr. Redmayne, an appealing actor with a freckled face built for wonder, at times seems to be stretching his long body to hit his higher notes.

Mr. Redmayne’s sincerity complements Ms. Seyfried’s old-fashioned trilling and her wide-eyed appearance, even if their romance lacks spark. Then again, so does the movie. Song after song, as relationships and rebellion bloom, you wait in vain for the movie to, as well, and for the filmmaking to rise to the occasion of both its source material and its hard-working performers.

As he showed in “The King’s Speech” and in the television series “John Adams,” Mr. Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded — to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around — is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat.

“Les Misérables” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Gun death, poverty, face boils and revolution.

Les Misérables

Opens on Tuesday nationwide.

Directed by Tom Hooper; written by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer; based on the novel by Victor Hugo and the stage musical by Mr. Boublil and Mr. Schönberg; music by Mr. Schönberg; lyrics by Mr. Kretzmer; director of photography, Danny Cohen; edited by Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens; production design by Eve Stewart; costumes by Paco Delgado; produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 37 minutes.

WITH: Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Samantha Barks (Éponine), Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thénardier) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Thénardier).

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 24, 2012

A previous version of this article referred incorrectly to a Peter Bogdanovich film that used live singing. It was “At Long Last Love,” not “They All Laughed.”


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[mamaleh]

Don't pay any attention to that review. It's way off base.

I'm at the 1O PM showing at a semi-nearby theater. Happy to report that it is filling up - and with lots of ypung people, families teens and 20s -- and guys! Very encouraging.

Ellen

[jo]

Your long and detailed and glorious review is much awaited, Ellen


Jo

[jo]

In the meantime --

www.afterelton.com/2012/12/review-les-miserables?page=0%2C1


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Review: "Les Misérables"

Posted by
Brian Juergens, Contributor
on December 24, 2012


After a prolonged journey from stage to screen, the international smash Les Misérables has finally gotten the Hollywood treatment. It's a saga that at times felt like it would drag on as long as the French Revolution. Or even as long as the play itself, which boasts a running time of approximately three hundred thousand million hours (and thirty-eight minutes).

Director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), clearly high as a kite on Oscar glory, was the man to finally bring the beast of a musical - which spans decades and calls for battles, bridge jumps, and hoardes of flea-bitten background players - to movie theaters. Early in the process of doing so, he made a bold decision that might very well have saved the project from being yet another bloated adaptation of a beloved Broadway hit (cough!The PhantomoftheOpera!cough!): he was going to let the actors sing live on-set.

In movie musicals as we know them, the actors pre-record their songs in a studio somewhere (sometimes a different person even does the singing for them!) and then they lip-sync their lines as the cameras roll. This allows for zero improvisation and severely limits creativity on set (where much of the performance-related magic of movies generally happens), and usually results in a product that feels more "canned" than it should.

The decision, it turns out, was a brilliant one: by recording the actors singing live on-camera (aided by teeny-tiny earpieces providing a sort of "guide track") and then adding the orchestration later based on the natural cadences of the actors' performances, Les Miz may have broken the movie musical curse forever. Unhampered by the veil of artificiality that has always plagued the genre, the film achieves a sense of intimacy and authenticity that is at times absolutely staggering. The actors are allowed to build a performance in a single uninterrupted take - to go from a whisper to a scream in unblinking, heartbreaking close-up.

This radical approach pretty much saved Les Miz for me - it actually improved on what I've always felt were the show's failings. Instead of constantly playing to the balcony (which can result in a prolonged screamfest of bombast), the actors are allowed to use every weapon in their arsenal, and the story takes on a much richer texture. I mean, sure - the show's two gorgeous ballads do still signify that a pretty brunette is probably going to bite it soon (spoiler alert: PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE DIES), but at least we get to look into their eyes and hear their stories first.


As our carb-happy hero Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman is expectedly excellent - so much so that you'll likely find yourself marveling at the fact that this man who can so completely commit to a tear-stained and perfectly-pitched performance in a very challenging musical is also the gruff, hulking brute from the X-Men films. He's a magnificently talented man, and watching his performance here is like seeing him for the first time.

Pound-for-pound, Anne Hathaway may pull off an even more impressive feat as Fantine, the tragic catalyst of the film's overarching redemptive (and, appropriately enough for the season, hella Catholic) theme. True, the role is any actress's dream - but hot damn does she nail it. I challenge anyone to make it through her heart-rending performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" with dry eyes. I'd be thrilled to see Hathaway take home a prize for this performance - but more than anything I'm just happy that Susan Boyle's reign of terror is finally over.

Throaty-voiced local fave Eddie Redmayne (Savage Grace) also impresses with his sensitive take on heroic young revolutionary Marius - his intimate requiem ballad "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" also reaps the benefits of the film's unorthodox filming method.

As the disgusting "Master of the House" and his equally vile wife, Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter turn in dependably solid performances, and relative newcomers Aaron Tveit (Gossip Girl, Howl) and Samantha Barks are the prettiest darn revolutionaries you've ever seen (and heard).

Not faring so well with the format is Russell Crowe, whose approach to playing the sadistic, obsessed Javert is to wear the sullen glare of a 5-year-old who has just been told he can't have a second cookie for the nearly 3-hour running time. It's not just a bad performance, it's an embarrassing one. His voice - while not exactly pretty - isn't the problem; it's that he looks absolutely Les Miserable every second he's on screen.

Maybe he wasn't comfortable with the demands of singing on camera, or maybe he wasn't happy with the role, I don't know. But if he'd brought even a hint of the maniacal glee that he brought to The Man with the Iron Fists, it would have saved his performance and elevated the overall film considerably - as it is, it's almost like Hugh Jackman dedicates his character's entire life to defending a little girl from a sack of flour in a Napoleon hat.

Sure, Les Miz is kind of a mess: it's overlong, bloated, and wildly melodramatic. But when it works, it really sings - and for the first time in the history of the genre, it sings live. That should be music enough to any Broadway fan's ears.

Les Misérables opens in theaters on Christmas Day.

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[jo]

From The Boston Globe --

2.5 of 4 Stars


bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/12/25/movie-review-les-miserables/DBGVULryIKTSxsZMBzVudO/story.html

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Movie Review

Epic ‘Les Misérables’ runs out of steam



In 1862, when Victor Hugo’s masterpiece was published, the term “les misérables” was meant to represent society’s impoverished underdogs. They were outcasts and rebels who were rejecting society’s rejection of them. But ever since 1985 when the English-language musical version began devouring the world, nobody says “Misérables.” Now it’s just “Les Miz,” and that evokes an altogether different state of despair. The miz don’t need food, shelter, or clothing — there are catering and production crews for those. They need good lighting, a stirring arrangement, and an ecstatic audience. Miz is a condition of abject showmanship. It’s walking to downstage and belting out your torment. It’s still the same human condition that took up 1,200 pages in Hugo but with razzmatazz.

What’s great about the first half of Tom Hooper’s gigantic film of the musical is the balance it strikes between the misérable and the miz. Hooper graduates from the tasteful and triumphant modesties of “The King’s Speech” to a musical that for a generation of people was a kind of first kiss. In the opening scene, which is set in 1815, two decades after the French Revolution, row upon row of chain-gang prisoners are pulling an enormous ship. The camera swoops to and fro, taking all the gaunt, hairy, and chewed-up faces as they bellow their work song (“Look down! Look down!”), the water pouring out of their mouths as they sing. Despite some digital-production assistance, this isn’t a pantomime of drudgery. It feels like the real thing.

Hooper has decided that realism is the way to go with “Les Misérables.” The singing has all been done on the spot. So if, after he’s been given his leave, prisoner 24601 — also known as Jean Valjean and now permanently consecrated in the movie-musical firmament as Hugh Jackman — sounds winded as he muscles out a song in rags and clogs amid freezing temperatures at vertiginous altitudes, he is. This might be the way to capture the noble suffering in Hugo’s novel: more suffering.

A series of benevolent events change Valjean’s fortunes. He’s broken his parole (the original crime was stealing bread), changed his name, and become a successful industrialist. A crisis of conscience forces him to give himself up and spend the rest of his life on the run from the beefy monomaniacal inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) but not without keeping a vow made to one of Valjean’s employees, the virtuous but doomed Fantine (Anne Hathaway), to find her daughter, Cosette, and give her a good life. That’s the first 65 minutes or so of the movie, and once they’re over, the action skips ahead to 1832 and things become repetitive and shallow. Some of this has to do with Hugo’s book, whose assorted digressions in the second half are almost ruinous. But Hugo was a lyrical idealist who could pull you along with the sweep of moral principle.




LES MISÉRABLES


2.5 out of 4 stars
MPAA rating:PG-13MPAA rating reasons:Suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elementsLanguage:EnglishRunning time:157 minutesCast:Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anne HathawayDirector:Tom HooperWriters:William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer, adapted from the stage musical and the novel by Victor HugoMovie website:http://www.lesmiserablesfilm.com/ Playing at:Boston



Neither the original French musical (by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel) nor the English adaptation (by Herbert Kretzmer, Trevor Nunn, and John Caird) cares much about the greater social good. The hard decay and demise in the the first third disappear, truculence and romance take over, and frankly, the quality of the songcraft withers. This is a sung-through musical, and by the time the student revolt occupies the drama, you always get the sinking feeling that the show is just spinning its wheels until the next great number. Hooper inherits the musical’s problems and runs out of creative solutions. The mix of vastness and intimacy, long shots and close-ups that served the film so well in the early going, doesn’t work as well here. It’s committed to comparative trivialities: the student revolt and the would-be anarchist and aristocrat, Marius (Eddie Redmayne,) who falls in love with Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and breaks the heart of his pal Éponine (Samantha Barks). At this point, we’ve already experienced the emotional payoff of Hooper’s strategy of filming the solo numbers in long takes as portraits and are still mourning for Hathaway, who during “I Dreamed a Dream” shatters apart an inch away from the camera. That moment is the implosive equivalent of the house Jennifer Hudson brought down in “Dreamgirls.”

Redmayne, Seyfried, and Barks, who’s making her movie debut, are all fine. Aaron Tveit is even better as the student revolt’s leader. But they don’t have songs that give you much to feel — well, Barks does — and a lot of people have started singling her out. But for me, her pretty singing was upstaged by her costume: How does she manage to do anything with her belt that tight? The musical, not unlike the book, becomes guilty of Marius’s privileged sense of romance, and Redmayne spends another movie looking as if he’s been touched for the very first time.

What makes Jackman such an astonishment is that he’s not afraid to show you all the work. The live singing elevates the sense of hardship. Jackman’s a star whose charisma the movies have wasted but musical theater and award shows have kept in business. Hooper often puts the camera up close to Jackman, looking down upon him. What the actor reveals as he spits and weeps and strains to perform, say, “What Have I Done?” or “Who Am I?” is a kind of reverse showmanship. The charisma’s been stripped to the bone, and it’s a thrilling confirmation of the other kind of star Jackman is. Come the second half, he’s just as good, but there’s nowhere for all the anguish to go. His hair’s gone big. He’s breeches and suspenders. It’s like watching “Little House on the Prairie”-era Michael Landon tackle a supermusical.

After 2½ hours, the movie’s become a bowl of trail mix — you’re picking out the nuts you don’t like and hoping the next bite doesn’t contain any craisins. All the carefully crafted misérables turns into a pile of miz. Through it all the person who breaks your heart in scene after scene is Crowe. Not because he’s good. It’s quite the opposite problem. Again, this is a sung-through musical, which means he might speak two words the entire film. He doesn’t sing here so much as carry tunes — across the desert, in his bare feet. This strong virile actor is giving the songs everything he has yet still sounds like one of the orphans in “Oliver.” The entire performance is like a car that won’t turn over. His bravery’s commendable. But there’s nothing miz about him, just misérable.
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The second part arguments are again an assault on the original source material. That was how Victor Hugo wove the storytelling while articulating his political and social commentaries of the day. Why should it be changed to make it far more dramatic and more gritty ( aka scenes of untold suffering and hardships, which is what this reviewer seems to want...as if dying for a cause is not suffering enough )

Jo

[jo]

A review from MALAYSIA --

www.nst.com.my/life-times/health/cinema-songs-sung-blue-1.191040

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IT’S Christmas but, instead of the usual festive cheer and joyful laughter, be prepared to shed a tear or two when you watch Les Miserables.

This silver screen translation of West End’s longest running musical stars Hugh Jackman, as the main protagonist Jean Valjean, and a bevy of other prominent names.

Through the tale of the ex-convict Valjean (or prisoner number 24601), Les Miserables highlights the plight of the wronged — where bouts of misfortune, adversity and sacrifice are the norm prior to redemption.

Set in tumultuous 19th Century France, the narrative focuses on how Valjean’s life changes when he crosses paths with the Bishop (Colm Wilkinson, the actor who played Valjean in the original London stage productions) and later Fantine (Anne Hathaway), who both give him reasons to go on. Yet, he is still being pursued by police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe).

Adapted from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s original stage musical and produced for the stage by Cameron Mackintosh, the movie is helmed by Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech).

Similar to the musical, this version is capable of causing viewers to feel the characters’ wretchedness. You cannot hold back your tears as you are immersed in their suffering and dilemma through the beautiful songs laced with poignant lyrics. Thank God for the darkened cinema!

Yes, the film is pretty faithful to the stage performance (although a new song, Suddenly, was created for the film. Other songs have been shortened or left out, such as Dog Eats Dog) so much so that spoken lines are few and far between. Simple conversations are still sung by the actors — which at times might appear quite silly given that this is a film.

Nonetheless, Hooper’s groundbreaking move of having his actors sing live on set is laudable. When Hathaway starts her sad rendition of the timeless masterpiece, I Dreamed A Dream, you know that you’ve got a powerful unadulterated performance that’s worthy of a golden statuette.

While Jackman, already a regular face on Broadway, is at ease in demonstrating his vocal prowess, but the same cannot be said for Crowe. The Oscar winner (Best Actor for Gladiator) portrays the stoic and relentless Javert with pure iciness, but fails miserably in his attempt to inject emotional depth to his songs.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter provide comic relief as Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, who care for Fantine’s daughter Cosette. It is also interesting to note that though they are all playing French characters, only Cohen bothered to deliver his lines with a French accent.

It is Daniel Huttlestone, the boy who plays the tyke Gavroche, who effortlessly steals the show from the first time he appears until the end. Samantha Barks (as Eponine)is also a talent to watch out for.

But ultimately I have beef with Danny Cohen. I don’t know what the photography director was thinking but the constant close-ups and weird one-sided angles when an individual is singing really spoils the show. I love Jackman but too many close-ups to the point where you can see the back of his mouth is too much to swallow.

Les Miserables is truly a notable effort. In its entirety, I enjoyed the singing and the acting. But had the cinematography and editing been tighter, Hooper might just have another Oscar under his belt.


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[jo]

A review from the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST ( arguably the most influential newspaper in cosmopolitan Hongkong) --


www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1108347/film-review-les-miserables

4 of 5 Stars

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Film review: Les Miserables
Thursday, 20 December, 2012, 12:00am

Yvonne Teh [e-mail]
.

Les Miserables

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway
Director: Tom Hooper
Category: IIA
4 Stars of 5

What do you do after the film you directed wins multiple awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture? In the case of Tom Hooper, the director of The King's Speech, it's to bring to the silver screen a long-running hit musical based on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, widely viewed as one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.

The English-language adaptation, now in its 27th year, of the stage musical drew critical reviews when it opened in London in 1985. The film version of Les Miserables - which, like the stage versions, is a sung-through production with minimal spoken dialogue - undoubtedly will not be to everyone's liking.

For one thing, it's not a pretty-looking film: cinematographer Danny Cohen's various close-up shots seem to delight in showing that even movie stars possess blotchy skin, spots and freckles, as well as them caked in sweat, dirt, grime and worse in this spectacular £40 million (HK$503 million) production. There also seems to be a cinematographic revelling in the fact that the people in Les Miserables often are, well, so very miserable and wretched.

The story of personal and political rebellion and romance centres, after all, on a man imprisoned for 19 years and then put on parole "forever" for the crime of stealing bread to feed his sister's starving family. And after the unfortunate Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, above with Anne Hathaway) breaks parole, he is pursued for decades by the persistent police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe).

Even after he discovers that God has not forsaken him and manages to reinvent himself as a factory boss, Valjean still has much to struggle against in life. But out of the tragedy that befalls seamstress turned prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway), some happiness does come to him by way of her daughter Cosette (played by Isabelle Allen as a child, and Amanda Seyfried as an adult), who enters his world.

With a highly dramatic tale that borders on the operatic, Les Miserables is the kind of work that benefits tremendously from having a sterling cast capable of delivering intense performances. Jackman and Crowe are masterful in their anchor roles (even though it's clear that they are struggling to meet the challenges of singing as the film is being shot),while Hathaway is wonderful, with her heart-rending rendition of I Dream a Dream making full use of her acting prowess and vocal abilities.

Among the supporting ranks, it's not Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter who impress though - indeed, I found their over-the-top comic touches overly heavy. Instead, the trio of Isabelle Allen, Samantha Barks (as the adult Éponine) and Daniel Huttlestone (as the street urchin Gavroche) are far more impressive in their film debuts - so too the romantic duo of Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne.

Les Miserables opens on December 25
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[jo]

From someone who is not a fan of musicals --

www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/59097/les-misrables-2012/

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Les Misérables (2012)

Universal // PG-13 // December 25, 2012

Review by Jeff Nelson | posted December 24, 2012 | E-mail the Author




A lot of the big directors in Hollywood ultimately become formulaic, as they don't stray from a specific genre of filmmaking. Director Tom Hooper has made the daring decision to step outside of his comfort zone with the musical Les Misérables. Movies in this genre can be unpredictable, since they have a very specific target audience and if they aren't made fully aware of the feature, it could go right under the radar. Since Tom Hooper has put together a picture that happens to have a large amount of support and an A-list cast, this shouldn't have a problem reaching musical-lovers. I have never been a big fan of the genre, but I can appreciate when it's done correctly. Les Misérables has its problems, but it's still a satisfying picture worth checking out.

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is put on parole for life after stealing some bread to keep his family alive. He decides to begin a new life, so he breaks his parole, which leads a ruthless policeman by the name of Javert (Russell Crowe) to begin hunting for him. Valjean makes a promise to Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a factory worker, to care for her daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen as a younger Cosette and Amanda Seyfried as an older Cosette). This fateful decision causes a chain reaction of intertwined stories that will change their lives forever.

William Nicholson's screenplay instantly begins with a big musical number as a large amount of men are forced to pull ropes with a huge ship at the end. From this moment on, almost every word of dialogue is sung with lyrics written by Herbert Kretzmer. There's a constant use of rhymes throughout the feature and they're actually quite clever. Those who are like me and don't watch very many musicals will find it to take a little while for your ears to get used to it. After one adjusts to it, the intelligent writing can be appreciated to its fullest extent. While the characters sing the dialogue to each other, viewers get to see them voice their inner-most thoughts to the audience when they're on screen alone. Les Misérables interacts with moviegoers to keep us engaged in a musical theatre-type of way. Director Tom Hooper and writers William Nicholson and Herbert Kretzman apply elements from both live shows and the theatrical experience in order to tell the story in the best way possible.

I went into this musical without knowing very much about the plot, but it's an interesting story to follow. While our main characters are Jean Valean and Javert, it deals with a variety of different characters throughout. Some directors aren't able to handle this many sub-plots at once, but Hooper manages to keep it organized and straight-forward. The first hour had me entirely engaged, but then the pacing begins to slow down. There are numerous times through the remainder of the 157-minute running time where it drags, but it picks itself back up. However, it continues being dragged and picked back up until the credits begin to roll. After we're introduced to Marius (Eddie Redmayne), some portions of the movie become somewhat of an endurance test. While it doesn't deviate from the story, it stops in its tracks for a while and takes a while to continue on route. The ending stays true to the title, as this isn't a happy movie by any stretch.

This musical is filled to the brim with top-notch actors. Hugh Jackman is absolutely phenomenal as Jean Valjean. He delivers the large amount of character development beautifully throughout the movie. It isn't sudden and he makes the transition in a very genuine fashion. Russell Crowe interacts with Jackman wonderfully as Javert. He convincingly conveys a policeman who holds a lot of pain and depression within. Anne Hathaway doesn't have a lot of screen time, but she's outstanding as Fantine. Despite the length of her appearance, this is one of the best performances of her career. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play a despicable couple by the names of Madame Thénardier and Thénardier. They both fit into the roles nicely as the utterly despicable characters. Samantha Barks does a great job as Éponine. This is a small supporting role, but she breathes a lot of depth into this character that wouldn't have been there otherwise. Les Misérables sports an insanely talented cast of actors.

The visuals you can see are wonderful, but the same cannot be said about everything you hear. While the costumes and set designs are award-worthy, I can't entirely stand behind every song this movie has to offer. Some of them are brilliant, while others are long and wearisome. There's an insane amount of vibrato with almost every character's voice, which gave me a headache by the time the credits were rolling. However, the audio track has been recorded very well. The singing sounds extremely detailed and the surrounds are given a real workout. I would like to give all of the songs high marks, but some of them are not up to par with the others.

Even though I'm not a big fan of musicals, I still find Les Misérables to be an enjoyable film. It has an incredible story to be told with cleverly written lyrics. The characters are conveyed as they should with outstanding performances. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway all have a good chance of being nominated in the upcoming awards season. While this picture boasts a strong first hour, it begins to lose some of its steam later on. Most of the songs are great, but others aren't quite as strong and the constant vibrato can get irritating. Les Misérables is still definitely a worthwhile picture that had me enjoying a genre that I normally dislike. Those who like to hear singing with their cinema will be joyful this holiday season, but the more resistant moviegoers might not appreciate it quite as much. Tom Hooper's newest motion picture comes with a high recommendation to those who are curious about the story or enjoy the genre.

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[jo]

From NBC News.com -- sister company of Universal, but no accomodation there


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'Les Miserables' dreams a dream, and dreams big

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

REVIEW: There are movies and then there are movie experiences. "Les Miserables" is the latter. The audience I saw it with sat in mesmerized silence through the songs, the drama, the very miniscule speaking parts. They sat quietly when the credits rolled and then applauded with fervor, as if they were seeing the show live. If a Broadway musical isn't your thing, "Les Mis" won't convert you, but if you're open to it, the filmed version doesn't let fans down. It's not subtle, it's not small, but it shouldn't be.

The musical, based of course on Victor Hugo's 1000-page-plus 150-year-old novel, does an amazing job of skating between multiple plots. Hugh Jackman plays the released prisoner Jean Valjean, who spends the film fleeing the dogged Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Their lives criss-cross with that of a doomed mother, trickster innkeepers, an abused orphan and the young students of France's 1832 June Rebellion. That's a lot of happenings, even for a three-hour film, and newcomers to the "Les Mis" craze are bound to get lost once or twice, but stay with it.

So much of the movie rests on Jackman's performance, and he delivers. His singing is powerful and natural, and his performance as the haunted, redeemed Valjean drives the movie.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine isn't in every scene, but her fall from prettiest girl in the factory to wretched mother who sells her hair, teeth and body to save her child is stunning, a mini-movie all its own. The beautiful Hathaway keeps only her swan neck -- the rest of her turns dirty and ugly and sick and messy, a most non-Hollywood look for a red-carpet icon.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter play the Thénardiers, the conniving innkeepers who treat Fantine's daughter Cosette as their own Cinderella. Not all critics appreciate their bumbling slapstick, but it's remarkably toned down considering the actors in question. Their "Master of the House" is the musical's most memorable song (tied only with Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream"), and it's hard not to leave the theater with it bumbling around in your brain.

So many other highlights. Isabelle Allen, the tiny blonde who plays a young Cosette, is a somber, sweet version of the musical's famed poster, and her grave demeanor suits her role. Her character grows up to be played by an adequate Amanda Seyfried, but Seyfried is blown off the screen by beautiful brunette Samantha Barks, who played the role of Eponine in the London production and reprises it wonderfully, touchingly here.

The plot that takes place on a Parisian barricade brings in a dozen or so young men with names like Scrabble words (Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Lesgles). But Eddie Redmayne as Marius, who pines for Cosette and is in turn loved by Eponine, is really the main one you need to know, and he rises out of a crowd of young faces with a soaring voice and a believable anguish as his brave rebellion goes horribly wrong.

Not everything works. Fans of the musical were amused by the casting of Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert. He can be a great actor, but he has an Australian accent and no stage singing experience (though yes, he sang for years with his own band). Every time he sings, it feels a little like a night at a Sydney karaoke bar. But the complaints are minor. Whether you've got the soundtrack memorized or only know it from Susan Boyle and George Costanza, "Les Mis" is a dazzling film experience.


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[jo]

From the midwest -- Omaha World Herald !


www.omaha.com/article/20121225/GO/712259997


Published Tuesday December 25, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW

'Les Miz' is beautiful film in grimy setting

By Bob Fischbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Omaha World-Herald

It's an interesting juxtaposition: the grimy realism of urban Paris, circa 1815-32, and the beauty of a soaring musical score by Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Director Tom Hooper's movie version of the stage musical “Les Misérables” makes full use of both (was tooth care really this bad back then?), plus a star-studded cast that proves worth the price for its acting skills.


Les Misérables

Quality: ★★★½ (out of four)

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried

Director: Tom Hooper
Rating: PG-13 for suggestive and sexual material, violence, thematic elements

Running time: 2 hours, 37 minutes

Theaters: Midtown, Bluffs 17, Twin Creek, Aksarben, Oak View, Village Pointe, 20 Grand, Westroads, Great Escape

They're a mostly pleasant surprise as singers too, particularly considering the singing was filmed live — not, as it usually is, recorded first and lip-synced or dubbed in post-production. (Orchestration, however, was recorded later).

Yes, Russell Crowe can sing. Maybe not as polished in phrasing and shaping notes as Hugh Jackman, but strong and clear and on pitch.

Jackman plays Jean Valjean, a convict who has fled parole to make a new life. Crowe is Jauvert, a police inspector obsessed with returning Valjean to prison. They are the central characters in this sweeping story, based on Victor Hugo's 1862 masterpiece French novel.

Hooper (“The King's Speech”) opens with a visually remarkable montage of the wretched-poor, then prison laborers dragging a huge wooden ship into drydock. It's Valjean's last day of 17 years in prison after stealing bread to keep his sister's baby alive (14 of those years were for escape attempts). Jauvert is there to remind him he won't escape his past, or parole.

Soon, though, Valjean does escape, reinventing himself as a respected mayor and businessman after a conversion of the soul.

Soon, too, you realize Hooper will bring the same combination of panoramic sweep and close-up intimacy to each phase of the story. He zooms from a close-up of Valjean's tortured face to a receding shot revealing a stunning mountaintop abbey.

On the streets of Paris, he similarly zooms up from the barricades of a public anti-monarchy uprising to an overhead shot like something from a satellite, revealing a maze of winding streets.

The list of laudable supporting players is long: Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen (“Sweeney Todd”) as the Thénardiers, repulsive, crooked innkeepers who are abusive wards to tiny Cosette; Eddie Redmayne (“My Week With Marilyn”) in terrific voice as young rebel Marius, who falls for adult Cosette (Amanda Seyfried, “Mamma Mia”); new face Samantha Barks as the Thénardiers' daughter, Éponine, who's in love with Marius (superb singing “On My Own”); Aaron Tveit (“Gossip Girl”) as rebel leader Enjolras (great singing also).

Crowe does a creditable job as hard-hearted Jauvert, who several times is shown walking along the edge atop tall buildings as he sings (nice vocals on “Stars”). More than dizzying if you're afraid of heights.

But the movie is dominated by the deeply moving performances of Jackman as pure-hearted Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Cosette's self-sacrificing single mother, who is forced into prostitution to keep Cosette alive.

Jackman impresses on the iconic (and painfully high) “Bring Him Home,” but his best musical moment may be when he sings “Suddenly,” a beautiful new tune written for the movie.


Hathaway simply breaks your heart with her tear-stained “I Dreamed a Dream,” making her a frontrunner for the supporting-actress Oscar.

This isn't a prettified version of period street life. It makes the screen version of “Oliver” seem stagey by comparison. The gritty realities Hooper emphasizes in the visuals, combined with the very unreal sung-through script, creates a new experience for this period costume piece — one “Les Misérables” fans are likely to applaud heartily.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, [e-mail]


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[jo]

A review from Miami Florida --

www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/25/3155539/les-miserables-pg-13.html

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Posted on Tuesday, 12.25.12


Movie Info

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen.

Director: Tom Hooper.

Screenwriters: William Nicholson, Herbert Kretzmer. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh.

A Universal Pictures release. Running time: 158 minutes. Suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements. Opening Christmas Day, playing at area theaters.



By Christine Dolen [e-mail]


Transforming a hit musical into a movie is never simple, even if the show is as beloved as Les Misérables. Producer Cameron Mackintosh tried in the late 1980s, after Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical version of the classic 1862 Victor Hugo novel became a massive hit in London and on Broadway. But the cameras didn’t start rolling until last March, 27 years after Les Miz first hit the London stage.

Hard to say how an earlier Les Miz movie might have worked out, but for fans, director Tom Hooper’s interpretation of a theater classic, which opens Christmas Day, is worth the wait. The movie is visually stunning, expansive yet intimate. It’s true to the style and spirit of the musical in telling the story of Jean Valjean, the hero who transforms his life after 19 years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread. William Nicholson ( Shadowlands, Gladiator) gets credit for the screenplay along with Herbert Kretzmer, who transformed Boublil’s original French lyrics into the now-familiar English ones. There’s even a new song, Suddenly, sung by Valjean to reflect his altered life after he rescues the waif Cosette.

The story of Valjean and the socio-political turmoil of early 19th century France is told through song. Star Hugh Jackman, Oscar winner Russell Crowe as his dogged pursuer Javert and the other actors have little or no spoken dialogue. One song leads into the next, more in the style of an opera than a musical. And as on stage, the actors sing the music live.

Les Mi z evokes the grandeur and grittiness of France from Valjean’s release in 1815 to the aftermath of the student rebellion of 1832. The opening sequence is a stunner, with dozens of men singing Look Down as they trudge through frigid water to haul a massive ship into dry dock. The imperious Javert (Crowe) hands a worn-out Valjean (Jackman) paperwork granting him freedom, but in truth he’s branded for life.

The story becomes an extended cat-and-mouse chase once Valjean breaks his parole and Javert begins his deadly pursuit. Javert, the “righteous” man, follows the letter of the law (and Valjean) to extremes; Valjean, transformed after an act of mercy by the Bishop of Digne (Colm Wilkinson, the original stage Valjean), has become a righteous, compassionate man.

His life intersects with myriad others throughout Les Mi z. Fantine (a radiant and heartbreaking Anne Hathaway), who toils to support her illegitimate daughter Cosette (Isabelle Allen), sheds her dignity bit by bit, finally turning to prostitution. Valjean assures the dying woman he’ll look after her daughter, and after retrieving Cosette from the clutches of abusive innkeepers Monsieur and Madame Thénardier (a grime-covered Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter), he raises the little girl as his own.

Nine years later, as the rebellion is brewing in a majestic Paris, a love triangle forms. Éponine (earthy newcomer Samantha Barks), the Thénardiers’ once-pampered daughter, is mad for the handsome student Marius (Eddie Redmayne). But he falls instantly in love with the grown Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), who is equally smitten. Marius begins using Éponine as a go-between, and the Heart Full of Love trio sung by Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks is exquisitely beautiful.

The climactic battle at the students’ hodgepodge barricade is bloody and shocking. Closeups are part of the difference, as we watch the predictable results of soldiers mowing down the rag-tag band and their leader Enjolras (Aaron Tveit). The sad fate of plucky little Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone) becomes almost unbearable.

Jackman is almost wizened-looking yet convincing as Valjean, hitting the right acting notes. He has plenty of stage singing experience, but he’s best when he sings full out, as he does on the confessional Who Am I ? The softer, prayerful passages of Bring Him Home aren’t nearly as effective. Musically, Valjean demands an operatic strength and range that the appealing Jackman doesn’t possess. Likewise Crowe, who has fronted his own rock band, brings a strong baritone to Javert’s Stars and Soliloquy, but his acting trumps his singing.

Hooper has honored a much-loved stage musical while opening it up visually and casting it with names that should help sell tickets. Les Miz purists may not be happy, and those who don’t dig classics and/or musicals won’t go. But the director delivers an engaging version of a sweeping epic, an enduring tale of romance, sacrifice and heroism.


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Jo

[mamaleh]

Dec 24, 2012 22:34:49 GMT -5 jo said:

Your long and detailed and glorious review is much awaited, Ellen


Jo

Well, I'll leave the detailed reviews to the professionals--and the bloggers--for now. Off to yet another showing, this time in NYC. Let's see if the audience reaction is similarly ecstatic. (Yes, they liked, it, they really liked it.)

Ellen

[foxie]

Ellen ur review the cd is using up a box of Kleenex!I doubt if I will see it until next weekend unless some miracle happens tonite!

[jo]

This critic ( Michael Philips of Chicago Tribune) wonders why his negative review is getting a backlash !


www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-mov-1228-talking -pictures-20121229,0,7755041.column#


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'Les Miz' backlash: Do you hear the people sting?


Michael PhillipsMovie critic
8:18 p.m. CST, December 27, 2012


"When was the last time you stood up and applauded a movie?" Filmgoers of a certain age may recall the question posed by the posters for the revenge drama "Walking Tall." That 1973 hit, directed by Phil Karlson, featured Joe Don Baker as the Tennessee cleaner-upper who took care of business with a 4-foot wooden club.

It's a long way from Buford Pusser to Jean Valjean but here we are, just a few days into the general release of "Les Miserables." Reports of nationwide standing and weeping and clapping have been legion. (I greatly admire the stage version. I thought the movie was pushy and sloppy; I knew the opinion wouldn't make friends.)

Email has been flooding my in-box. Sample outrage, from Bob Hirsch:


"Just saw Le Miz at 10 a.m. with a full house where people just kept applauding and would not leave until the credits were over. How can you put down one of the greatest movies of all time? You should be ashamed of yourself if even one person misses this awesome movie because of your foolish review."

From Barbara Cutler:

"You should go back and take a good look! There was a standing ovation at the end of the movie. People who never were able to see a Broadway show were mesmerized. The talent, all in one place, was overwhelming, even for people like me who go to Broadway often."

From Barbara Grob: "Isn't the job of a critic to stay more or less neutral? Moviegoers can make up their own mind. You slammed 'The Hobbit — it has been #1 for two weeks. You suggested 'The Guilt Trip' and it came in with five million!" Added Annette Tisdale: "Nice of you to steal Christmas, Grinch."

Gerry Amodio wrote: "I went into this afternoon's showing expecting to be thoroughly disappointed. But to my complete pleasure I was enthralled ... the packed theater, the sounds of sniffles and noses being blown ... though I have seen it on Broadway on tour, and listened to the score too many times to remember, the sound of patrons clapping (at the multiplex) after the final song is sung is a sound that just isn't experienced all too often." And from Craig Wilson: "Rethink your rating, because a bad rating for 'Les Miserables' should be no lower than three stars."

From a Florida reader, Paulette Corollo: "As a critic you have some responsibility to be objective and not let your petty, pitiful personal opinions enter into your reviews. You have failed miserably more than once. This was one of your most egregious failures. We saw the film on Christmas morning sharing a packed house. There was not a sound, nor cough from the rapt audience for the entire film. Much applause at the end and buckets of tears shed. ... Hollywood has never gotten anything so right."

How can a critic be so wrong? How can any two people experience the "Les Miz" film version so differently?

We ask these questions every so often, especially when a big, emotionally volcanic hit in the making floods an audience with lava and songs like "Bring Him Home." If a film offers a good cry, there is no arguing with those who shed the tears. There is only bafflement regarding the critics who felt either mixed or beaten up by this "Walking Tall" of a movie musical. Among them: Time's Richard Corliss ("This is a bad movie"). Manohla Dargis of The New York Times ("Bludgeoning and deadly ... by the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat"). Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post was more positive, though her review ended this way: "Even when they're dabbing away tears during the last of the big numbers, audiences might wonder whether they're feeling less uplifted than run over." Others adore the picture, among them Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Chicago's own Richard Roeper.

So there it is: the latest reminder that no two people are struck by the same film in the same way. While writing the previous sentence, two more emails pinged onto the radar. From Alberto Gonzalez, a minority opinion: "A cinematic travesty ... one of the most miserable movie experiences I've had in a long time. ... Five minutes into the movie I asked myself, 'Dear Lord, is the entire film going to be like this?' Sadly, the answer was yes."

More representatively, from Rae Keever: "First time I ever commented on a movie review — too bad you didn't like the movie but there's no accounting for taste. Three of us saw it Christmas Day at the Century in Evanston and all of us loved it. All female, one a senior, one in her forties and a teenage girl.

"Just wanted you to know."

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Sounds like the Les Mis story all over again. Scorned by critics, but loved by fans ;D

Keep writing to them! Keep spreading the word around! Keep posting on message boards! Keep tweeting and sending Facebook messages!

Not just about the movie but also about Hugh Jackman's performance! It should have been hailed -- there is no other role among those whose performances are being predicted for awards honors ( DDLewis, Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix, John Hawkes, Bradley Cooper, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Gere, etc) which can surpass or even equal the degree of difficulty required in interpreting the Jean Valjean role!

Jo

[jo]

This reviewer pays tribute to Hugh's performance, especially in the SUDDENLY scene, and to Hugh's advocacy for adoption.

www.nationalreview.com/corner/336789/iles-mis-rablesi-hugh-jackman-and-blessing-adoption-david-french

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Les Misérables, Hugh Jackman, and the Blessing of Adoption


By David French
January 2, 2013 4:55 P.M.

I’m sorry to interrupt the fiscal-cliff garment-rending, but I wanted to take a moment to mention something truly good and beautiful in our recent pop culture. My wife and I finally saw Les Misérables, and — like most NRO writers — we were profoundly moved. One moment stood out more than the others (caution: minor spoiler follows).

When Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) finally removes the young Cosette from her abusive home, he sings to her as he very gently, very awkwardly caresses her sleeping head. That moment took my breath away. The combination of the words of the song, the adoring yet fearful and uncertain look in Valjean’s eyes, and the tenderness of his gestures showed on the screen the very emotions I’ve struggled to explain since becoming an adoptive parent. What is it like to meet a new child and love her instantly and so completely? Watch the movie, and you’ll get a glimpse of the indescribable joy — combined with awkwardness and uncertainty — of the moment when an adoptive parent first meets his adopted child.

After the movie, I googled Hugh Jackman and discovered that he is an adoptive parent himself and has very publicly advocated for adoption. I don’t know much else about Mr. Jackman (other than the fact that he’s a very believable Wolverine), but in this regard he is rendering invaluable public service. A true culture of life in many ways rests on a foundation of adoption — and not just in the literal, legal sense. After all, Christian readers should recognize that each of us has received a “Spirit of adoption” as children of God, and it is that very Spirit that causes us to cry out to our Heavenly Father.

The results of the election — along with a myriad of other cultural indicators — have reinforced the need to return to first principles, of the need for families to “walk the talk” of the kind of culture we want to restore or create. As an echo of our Savior’s love for us, a spirit of adoption only enriches our culture and our lives, and seeing that spirit so beautifully portrayed on film was a marvelous holiday gift. Well done, Mr. Jackman.


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