Les Miserables - A Quick Review

I'm not a fan of musicals, movies or live. It's not that I don't like them. I'm just afraid to be addicted to the catchy tunes and story, and have the OST playing non-stop for the next 3 months. Hence, like a great drug, I avoid them at all costs.

Of course, Les Miserables happened. And the drug was BACK.






First of all, almost every line is sung. But it's not musical in the effect of a "musical", but you have a mix of actors knowing how to sing and singers who know how to act. As you can see with the clip above, director Tom Hooper did all he can to keep the voice of the original actor as rich as possible, while quieting the set around the take. There was serious use of "rule of thirds" for many of the singing scenes, and great use of one-takes to make everything as realistic as possible. Def touching was Anne Hathaway's scene of "I Dream A Dream" - one take all the way, no idea how many tries it took. Friend told me she dropped serious muscle gained from "Dark Knight Rises" for this role. Those that question why actors get paid so much, watch this film.

Wolverine, Catwoman, Borat, and Maximus all in one? You can't get better than that.