The Glums

Went to see Les Miserables tonight.

I have mixed feelings about it. I think it had been hyped quite a lot by people I know as being an emotional, dramatic masterpiece. I certainly have nothing against musicals, quite the opposite, I have been in a fair few.

I think the choice to have the actors sing 'live' rather than in a studio was interesting. Anne Hathaway was fantastic, as was the girl from the BBC talent show, but Hugh Jackman struggled on the high notes, and Russell Crowe was, well Russell Crowe.
My biggest complaint was with the direction and the cinematography. Tom Hooper wants it to be intimate, so uses a close up for every single shot. If I hadn't read this thoughtful, rather long all-caps essay from film-crit hulk I may not have noticed it so much. But I did, and I therefore spent the whole film being distracted by how many close-ups there were.

'A close-up is one of the most powerful tools filmmakers have at their disposal. It brings us close to an actor to see every bit of emotion on her or his face... But there's a delicate art to it. Letting us close to an actor's face makes for such a uniquely intimate moment that if you do it for too much time it loses its effect.'

Having said that, the story is still compelling and the music was good. It didn't feel like it's near 3 hour running time. Enjoyable but didn't blow me away.