It Is The Music Of A People!
Jan. 3rd, 2013 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dodger_sisterFirstly, let me share the saga of my attempts to see Les Miserables. My sister and I made plans with my sis-in-law to go on Christmas Day with her and my brother. But my brother refused because he was boycotting places that make people work on Christmas. He refused even after I said that I was excited to see it with him since we originally saw it on Broadway together and fell in love with it together and anyways, we never do anything as a family like this anymore. It seems his liberalism has gone nuclear.
So my sister and I went anyways and the theater was packed. We kept asking people to move down for us, because I can’t climb over people to get to a seat in the middle. No one would move for us. They kept saying the seats were saved or telling us to climb over, despite that I am obviously physically handicapped. We got a worker and she tried to get people to move down for us, but eventually we had to leave without seeing the movie. The employee was so apologetic, gave us our money back and two free passes for the movie. She also said if we came for the next showing, she would just let us in for free and we could save our passes. We couldn’t go back because we had to pick The Nephew up, but she was very nice about it all. Not so nice were the viewers in the theater who turned us away on Christmas Day.
So then we intended to go see it on Friday, before my sister left for her trip to NY. On Thursday, my sister started vomiting and was sick all day. Like, really sick. Like she couldn’t even hold down a sip of water. There was no way we were making it to the movie, despite that my sister spent all day on Friday saying she felt good enough to go and then shortly changing her mind. She came home from NY on Wednesday completely over the flu, but had lost her voice. We went to the movie anyways and during the previews, she started coughing and couldn’t stop. I thought she was going to have to get up and leave, after all of that trouble. Luckily she managed to calm it down about ten minutes into the movie.
So now, at last, I have seen the movie!
I can’t explain to you what this musical means to me. It is my favorite of all time. Les Miserables hits me in a way nothing else ever has. And the movie was amazing. I thought I might be thrown by the fact that they sing the songs differently, in subtle ways, because they are acting it on a more close-up level. Like instead of belting out a note I usually love, Jackman let his voice break on it in a quiet way, as his emotion was breaking itself. Despite it not being note for note the musical I know, I liked how they did that. It added so much emotion to it and I think it would have been weird otherwise, when you could see the emotion right up on their faces. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well, but it really added something.
And like Marius has never been my favorite - I don’t take well to the whole love sick thing - but in the movie I really felt for him. The scene where he is singing about the empty tables of his dead friends had me in tears. The emotion on his face and in his voice was so raw. Eponine was wonderful as well and her ‘On My Own’ rendition is the perfect example of how this movie worked. I even liked Russell Crowe in his part which I was very nervous about because most of the time when I see him acting, all I can see is ’Russell Crowe’, and also because Javert is one of my favorites. But his death scene broke my heart perfectly and I even got goosebumps during his first solo number. But when I really lost my shit was during Enjorlas’ last stand, when he raises the flag up. He is my favorite and I cried for his final rebellion. Also the whole ‘Do You Hear The People Sing’ number had me wanting to stand up and cheer. My favorite number in the whole musical and they delivered it with such a punch - I know I’ll be rewatching that scene on DVD over and over again.
The little girl they got to play young Cosette looked so much like those iconic images from the old posters too that it really struck me. And the kid playing Gavroche was so awesome and strong and wee at the same time - though I admit to thinking how we should dress The Nephew up as Gavroche next Halloween. I mean, he knows all the words to all Gavroche’s songs anyways. And I’d be remiss in not mentioning Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway’s performances, as they were wrought with emotions and beautifully sung - my sister says she cried every time Fantine had a song. Mostly I was grinning like a loon, sometimes even while crying, and I did have to fist pump the air a little after the last number because they hit it home so hard.
I fucking love this musical like it is my whole heart and I left the theater with a grin on my face, so take that as my short review right there.
So my sister and I went anyways and the theater was packed. We kept asking people to move down for us, because I can’t climb over people to get to a seat in the middle. No one would move for us. They kept saying the seats were saved or telling us to climb over, despite that I am obviously physically handicapped. We got a worker and she tried to get people to move down for us, but eventually we had to leave without seeing the movie. The employee was so apologetic, gave us our money back and two free passes for the movie. She also said if we came for the next showing, she would just let us in for free and we could save our passes. We couldn’t go back because we had to pick The Nephew up, but she was very nice about it all. Not so nice were the viewers in the theater who turned us away on Christmas Day.
So then we intended to go see it on Friday, before my sister left for her trip to NY. On Thursday, my sister started vomiting and was sick all day. Like, really sick. Like she couldn’t even hold down a sip of water. There was no way we were making it to the movie, despite that my sister spent all day on Friday saying she felt good enough to go and then shortly changing her mind. She came home from NY on Wednesday completely over the flu, but had lost her voice. We went to the movie anyways and during the previews, she started coughing and couldn’t stop. I thought she was going to have to get up and leave, after all of that trouble. Luckily she managed to calm it down about ten minutes into the movie.
So now, at last, I have seen the movie!
I can’t explain to you what this musical means to me. It is my favorite of all time. Les Miserables hits me in a way nothing else ever has. And the movie was amazing. I thought I might be thrown by the fact that they sing the songs differently, in subtle ways, because they are acting it on a more close-up level. Like instead of belting out a note I usually love, Jackman let his voice break on it in a quiet way, as his emotion was breaking itself. Despite it not being note for note the musical I know, I liked how they did that. It added so much emotion to it and I think it would have been weird otherwise, when you could see the emotion right up on their faces. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well, but it really added something.
And like Marius has never been my favorite - I don’t take well to the whole love sick thing - but in the movie I really felt for him. The scene where he is singing about the empty tables of his dead friends had me in tears. The emotion on his face and in his voice was so raw. Eponine was wonderful as well and her ‘On My Own’ rendition is the perfect example of how this movie worked. I even liked Russell Crowe in his part which I was very nervous about because most of the time when I see him acting, all I can see is ’Russell Crowe’, and also because Javert is one of my favorites. But his death scene broke my heart perfectly and I even got goosebumps during his first solo number. But when I really lost my shit was during Enjorlas’ last stand, when he raises the flag up. He is my favorite and I cried for his final rebellion. Also the whole ‘Do You Hear The People Sing’ number had me wanting to stand up and cheer. My favorite number in the whole musical and they delivered it with such a punch - I know I’ll be rewatching that scene on DVD over and over again.
The little girl they got to play young Cosette looked so much like those iconic images from the old posters too that it really struck me. And the kid playing Gavroche was so awesome and strong and wee at the same time - though I admit to thinking how we should dress The Nephew up as Gavroche next Halloween. I mean, he knows all the words to all Gavroche’s songs anyways. And I’d be remiss in not mentioning Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway’s performances, as they were wrought with emotions and beautifully sung - my sister says she cried every time Fantine had a song. Mostly I was grinning like a loon, sometimes even while crying, and I did have to fist pump the air a little after the last number because they hit it home so hard.
I fucking love this musical like it is my whole heart and I left the theater with a grin on my face, so take that as my short review right there.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-04 01:53 am (UTC)Also if there weren't many other movies that I want to see, I'd see it again. I'm glad that you were able to see it too, it sounds as if the woman at theater tried but people can be so awful.
I saw it on a matinee on the first of the year and the theater was almost full, I was able to grab a single seat high up and people applauded. I love seeing a movie like this with a packed house.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-04 09:24 pm (UTC)Yes, that exactly! I am so in love with so many of these characters and to see them brought to life in this unique way was amazing. I too have to get the soundtrack and I'm thinking of maybe also picking up the London stage recording as well. I used to own it on cassette tape and then I have the broadway version on cd, but the London recording was the one my brother and I learned all the words with, so I think I want to pick that up as well. But I def need the movie soundtrack too.
There aren't a ton of other movies I want to see right now. I would like to see The Hobbit again and I am looking forward to Warm Bodies but I can't think of anything else that is pressing. I didn't get to see The Guardians, but those were the only December movies I was looking forward too. I don't know if I could sit for the whole run of Les Mis again, even though I want to - I was really stiff by the time it finished. What movies are you trying to get to see besides Wreck It Ralph, which you had mentioned before?
it sounds as if the woman at theater tried but people can be so awful.
Yeah, the theater employee was so nice about it all and we did end up seeing the movie for free with the passes she gave us, so that was nice in the end, but yeah, people wtf. I mean, I was there in my wheelchair and they wanted me to climb over - how do they think that will work?
I think that it is so cool that you got to see Les Mis with a full house and that the crowd all responded to it so well - I love when that happens, it is one of the reasons I really wanted to see it on Christmas Day. There were only about 12 people in the theater when I saw it but every single one of them clapped at the end, which is unusual because normally with such a small crowd people won't get 'vocal' like that.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-04 09:32 pm (UTC)I've just been so tired that this break has been sleeping, shopping and holidays and that's about it. I just realized that my holiday cards just aren't going to happen and that's okay.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-04 10:05 pm (UTC)I just realized that my holiday cards just aren't going to happen and that's okay.
The holidays get overwhelming and now that you work at a school and it is your one break time from work, you should enjoy it! It's one of the reasons I don't even bother with Christmas cards - there's too much going on already, you know.