Movie Review: Les Misérables

And herewith another movie review. I need to catch up on the lack of posts.

LES MISÉRABLES

For those who do not enjoy musicals this movie is not for you. Some friends complained that there was too much singing, but being a musical, singing is to be expected. I’m a fan of opera and I’m guessing that this would be the reason why almost continuous singing does not disturb me. But let me get to the review.

A solid performance was given by all actors. I was quite stunned that Russel Crowe could really belt out and I felt he even had a much better voice than Hugh Jackman. But great acting from both of them and from the rest of the cast too.

Spoiler alert: Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a burly French peasant of abnormal strength and potentially violent nature, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him to, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

I had never heard the musical but I knew the story, having read the novel written by Victor Hugo. It’s an incredible story about love, obsession and redemption. The music has some good anthems but it did not wow me like Phantom of the Opera did.

If you go watch Les Misérables you will need to bring a big box of tissues with you. Be you man or woman you will succumb to the sniffles and snot fest. I’m not kidding. It will jerk your heart strings. The entire cinema, including myself, was sniffling and snorting by the end.

My only gripe: the lack of a steadycam. Continuously moving camera bouncing up and down makes me nauseous. When I look at the world my brain acts as a steadycam and I therefore don’t understand why directors use that technique. It does not give a more “realistic” feel to a movie. It’s just annoying.

But overall, do watch Les Misérables.

Movie Review: Argo

With the Golden Globe and Oscar season come and gone, I have watched a couple of the nominated movies. First one on the list was Django Unchained. Next came Argo and Les Misérables.  

ARGO

As we know it won Best Picture at the Oscars. And for very good reasons. It is an extremely well directed film (well done to Ben Affleck for showing the world what he’s seriously capable of, and thank you to Clooney for producing and having the faith that Affleck could rock the world’s socks).

Spoiler alert: In 1979 the Shah of Iran fled into exile to the USA as the religious fanatic Ayatollah instigated a coup. During this time, protests happened all over Teheran and the American Embassy got besieged. The rioters broke into the embassy and took the embassy staff hostage. During the break-in, 6 staff members escaped and took refuge at the Canadian Ambassador’s house. Argo tells the story about how a CIA agent (played by Ben Affleck) concocted a completely hare-brained idea to get those 6 people out of Iran. The idea was to pretend that a movie director was location scouting for a sci-fi movie and had decided that Iran would be an ideal location. The embassy staff would be members of the directing team. The name of the movie: Argo. The Iranian government bought the story hook, line and sinker and the people were rescued. The embassy staff taken hostage were eventually all released after 444 days.

The movie is well paced, full of suspense that will have you on the edge of the seat. If you don’t find yourself egging on the plane to take off and get into international air space then there is something very wrong with you. The acting is excellent and what I appreciated is how closely the actors resembled the real people, without a mountain of make-up.

Beside the good acting and well directed film I enjoyed the fact that they recreated historical events with great accuracy. Also, the synergy between Alan Arkin and John Goodman is wonderful.

I wholeheartedly recommend Argo.

Mies Julie: A Review

Last night I went to the Market Theatre (for the first time) to watch a remake of the 1888 play Miss Julie.

The play has had numerous interpretations in the last Century, but I think this one will remain the most powerful. It was presented at the Endiburgh Fringe Festival in 2012 and was chosen to be amongst the best plays that year.

The South African playright and director Yael Farber, reinterpreted the story, setting it in a kitchen in a karoo farm, 18 years into the new South Africa. It deals with the relationship between a young woman, Mies Julie, (played terrifyingly well by Hilda Cronje), a young black farm hand, John (outstanding performance by Bongile Mantsai) and Christine, John's mother (achingly haunting) who brought Mies Julie up as her mother dissacociated herself from the world. And throughout the story floats the ghost of an ancestor.

It deals with ancestry, race, freedom, sexuality in a fiery intensive way. "The storm is coming. It will break soon" is repeated a few times and centers the theme of the play.

I came across The Guardian review, which encapsulates so much of what I felt watching the play.

It runs until 24 February and I recommend you go see it. It is NOT for the faint of heart. Emotions will run hard and you will feel uncomfortable at times. But the intensity of the performances will blow you away. You will ache, you will cry, you will feel emotionally confused and will struggle to take sides.

I loved it!