I actually saw this on Christmas Day with Christy but I haven't had a chance to sit down and post about it. I have been guardedly optimistic about seeing this movie. You know I love me some musicals but after getting burned by Nine three Christmases ago I tend to be more cautious. I am happy to report that this is way better than that Daniel Day-Lewis mediocrity.
Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has served a 19-year prison sentence for stealing a loaf a bread to feed his starving nephew. He gets released on parole but the guard, Javert (Russell Crowe), is a real prick about rules and puts him on the tightest leash he can. Unable to get a job, Valjean steals some silver from a church but the priest (Colm Wilkinson, who played Valjean on Broadway) not only refuses to give him to the cops, he gives him more silver to take. Moved by such charity, Valjean decides to give his life to God and skips parole, reinventing himself as a factory owner and mayor of a small town. Fantine (Anne Hathaway) is one of his workers, but a fight with another woman puts her out onto the street. She has a daughter named Cosette (Isabelle Allen) whom she boards with a shifty innkeeper (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter). Now jobless, Fantine drifts through the cracks in society, selling everything she can --including her body-- to pay for her child's upkeep. When he learns that her fall from grace was partially due to his own negligence, Valjean promises to find Cosette and raise her as his own.
Cut to eight years later, Valjean and Cosette (now Amanda Seyfried) live in Paris during one of the most politically charged periods following the Revolution. The young men of the city are planning a protest of their rampant poverty and ill-treatment, led by firebrand Enjolras (Aaron Tveit) and his friend Marius (Eddie Redmayne). That is until Marius catches a stray glimpse of Cosette and falls madly in love. They're French; it happens. Bad news for Eponine (Samantha Barks), the girl who desperately wants Marius to love her. She knows exactly who Cosette is, too, because she is the daughter of the innkeepers Thenardier, who now run a gang of theives. Rather than let her father break into their house, she screams a warning. Valjean thinks the cops have finally found him and decides to make a run for it with his ward.
Jesus, a lot of stuff happens in this movie. There's more but you can go see it for yourselves. Block off your schedule, though, and take tissues. You'll be crying or close to it for three hours.
They used live singing for this movie (meaning that they filmed the actors singing in takes, rather than lip-synching to a pre-recorded soundtrack) which I liked because it felt much more organic and real. Unfortunately, they really only filmed them singing. There are a lot of close-ups during songs, rather than actors singing as they move through scenes. On the one hand, this drags down the action, but on the other, it really allows them to emote the hell out of what they're singing. As far as the quality of singing, I'd rate it as high. Christy thought Eddie Redmayne sounded a bit like Kermit the Frog in some parts, but as the only one who didn't have a background in singing or musical theater, I thought he did a fine job. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" was probably his best song. The surprise stand-out for me was Aaron Tveit, a Broadway performer who stole every scene he was in.
I will probably buy this when it comes out but I probably won't get the soundtrack. Call me a purist, but I'm happy with the original cast album.
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