Les Mis First Trailer- Page 6

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 8:53am

^^^^^^^^ 100% agree with you, My Oh My

[My Oh My]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 9:20am

Ahem, Dave, you're entitled to your views and they aren't 'wrong,' but if I may...live theatre isn't as limiting as you seem to think.

"Fade-out" and "cross-cut" as adapted for the stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M_a5cWts_w#t=1m40s

Yes, achieved effectively, IMHO, through the literal fading of light and by suggestion through slow motion. I love how the focus is instantly transferred to Javert, who is obviously not in the same "room," as you call it, as the students.

We all know the original production was/is awesome at creating endless space with its endless marches and constant motion, using a device that has unfairly been linked to Les Mis even though it has been used for many, many years. I will say, though, that Les Mis took the revolve to a different level, as it did much more than simply spin the cast around or aid in set changes. Here's just a small, but effective use of that device that mimics cinematic-like effects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M_a5cWts_w#t=2m55s

Key word is "adaptation." I say that because too many people consider boring projections to be "innovative" when they are just a step closer to basically BEING film--projector, screen, moving animated or filmed images, and all. *Yawn*

"One Day More" is, to me, one of the best examples of how theatre is limitless and doesn't merely copy from other mediums--it shapes them to its needs.

I do agree that the solos need not focus on only the actor's face for 5 minutes at a time but I don't think anyone really suggested that, anyway.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 9:59am

Dave, you are correct that film can sometimes use cross-cutting effectively in a song. I'm reminded of Chava dancing with Tzeitl and Hodel in the middle of Topol's "Chavale." Jewison effectively used cross cutting elsewhere in Fiddler. But, in the case of "Chavale"'s emotional power, Robbins and Prince also cut away from Mostel on stage by the use of scrim, dance and flashback of familial unity.

But there are countless examples from film when effectively a song was sung without crosscutting. As I've said, in one of the greatest musical films of all time (and for me the best directed adaptation of a stage musical to film), Carol Reed resisted the technique in OLIVER for Wallace, Moody and Lester; the same can be said for Andrews' "I Have Confidence," Imagine how cheap flashbacks would have been while Streisand sang "My Man," or Garland sang "The Man Who Got Away?" And you don't need a legendarily great singer to know that flashbacks can be awful. To me, Hooper would cheaply compromise Hathaway's "I Dreamed A Dream" by interpolating flashback as much as Cukor would have cheaply compromised Harrison's "Why Can't A Woman?" with scenes of a date at a play or ballet reaching for her glove, or an image of a large Wagnerian mother.

As for the hair cutting, it belongs in "Lovely Ladies," a number much better suited to cross cutting, as it was suited to shifting between song and dramatic action on stage. The image of Hathaway, a very good actress and fine singer, sitting in what looks like a sewer pipe, expressing everything we need to know about her plight and memory of optimism can be - and,in this trailer, gives every promise of being - cinematically powerful, and I agree that flashback would liken it to a music video. I hope Hooper has not employed it. Although I am open to judging what he has done with the complete song, for better or for worse, when I see itl and I can even accept that flashback, if used, might be surprisingly effective, in spite of my doubts about it.

What I disagree with you about is that musical film requires cross cutting or flashback. To me the most memorable scenes from musical films have not employed it. "Over the Rainbow" did not include inserts of Dorothy being misunderstood and benignly neglected, "As Long As He Needs Me" did not cut away to Bill not treating Nancy in the way that he should, and "When You're Good to Mama" did not include mixed-in scenes of Morton's graft and being the biggest mother hen to the merry murderesses (nor did "Cell Block Tango" cut to the crime, except expressionistically through dance in the number). As a rule, when a director knows what he's doing with a character's big moment (as "I Dreamed A Dream" is) he should trust the audience's intelligence and imagination to be an integral part of the movie experience, and not manipulate or over direct.



Updated On: 6/1/12 at 09:59 AM

[Proper Villain]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 11:22am

If we should be wary of any technique shown in the trailer, it's Hooper's use of the Dutch angle. This take place in France, for goodness' sake!

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 11:57am

Proper Villain: LMAO!

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:00pm

I hope this movie is very successful. I just don't see a lot of people going to a movie that can be depressing to some, for the Holiday Season!

Updated On: 6/1/12 at 01:00 PM

[amoni2]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:13pm

"I just don't see a lot of people going to a movie that can be depression to some, for the Holiday Season!"

Oh Dear, you do realize we are talking about the film adaption of the musical "Les Misérables", don't you?

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:14pm

It looked really good on the big screen. There was a new edition to the main logo. Underneath "Les Miserable" it says "The Musical Film Spectacular" or something along the lines of that. Also the ratio aspect was off so it didn't fill the whole screen.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:15pm

I am shocked at how much I love this trailer... I suddenly have high hopes... and that is always a bad thing.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 1:39pm

I'm really excited for this film! I thought that the trailer itself could have been better and feature either more or a different song (maybe "One Day More" or "Do You Hear The People Sing"). I just hope it's better than THE KING'S SPEECH - I'm in the minority that didn't care for it. I thought it was pretty but dull.

[michellek45]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 2:52pm

I think they probably picked IDAD for this because a) it and "On My Own" are probably the most well-known songs from the show and b) Anne Hathaway is a name. I agree that "Do You Hear the People Sing?" would have been a great choice as well, but Aaron is an unknown. With IDAD, you get a well-known song and a well-known actress, which will appeal to people who don't know much about the show/theater in general.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:14pm

@My Oh My, I am not refering to the 25th Anniversary Edition because I have not yet seen it. I will get the opurtunity to review the tour this coming Fall in Houston, Texas.

However, my expeirneces with LES MIZ have been the London Cast Recording (which I LOVE, but is rather lacking on visiuals. I think the lyrics book has two or three pictures), the 10th Anniversay Concert on DVD, and the "Final Broadway Tour" run in Houston, TX about 5 years ago (I think), before the broadway revival with DRV as Fantine.

That clip you shared is definitely darker and more gritty than the versions I have experienced. Thank you dor sharing.

Oh, and this is to all, and a bit off-topic... BUT, if LES MIZ is successful is there hope for a film adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Wildhorn? I'd love to see that and it has some similar elements and themes (even if LES MIZ is not about the revolution proper, but the student rebellion).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:22pm

BUT, if LES MIZ is successful is there hope for a film adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Wildhorn?

No.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:24pm

Yeah, I didn't like the choice of using IDAD either because it doesn't convey that whole message of Les Mis ultimately being about hope and redemption. But it is only a teaser trailer, I'm guessing the official trailer will be a lot different.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:37pm

If Les Mis is successful, Miss Saigon may be the next natural choice, especially since they name it in the trailer.

And of course, the movie version of Wicked will probably happen some year.. whatever...

[p.s.]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:39pm

With IDAD, you get a well-known song and a well-known actress, which will appeal to people who don't know much about the show/theater in general.

As regards the title characters [the show/movie title, not the song title], "I Dreamed A Dream" sets the stage, so to speak. It is the right place to begin, especially for the masses of potential movietheatergoers.

In the beginning there were "days gone by," before the miserables even knew that they were destined to become "les miserables." --- "and so the story must begin..."


Also, for the record [not the recording, cast album, or soundtrack], I like what I hear from Anne Hathaway. I did not care at all for Daphne's singing.


p.s.

I am so excited!

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:39pm

You don't expect to see the face of Russel Crowe for 6 minutes while he is speaking, whispering or screaming his way through his "stars" monologue?

You left out singing. He can sing, and just because Anne Hathaway is not belting does not mean that she is not singing, or even not singing well.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 3:42pm

I'm sure we'll hear more songs in later trailers. It could also be because they haven't finished filmed songs like "One Day More" yet. We'll hear some version of "Do You Hear the People Sing" sooner or later in one of their ads.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 4:36pm

The costume we were talking about earlier.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/1/12 at 4:46pm

What I love most about the approach is the film being the anti-EVITA or anti-TOMMY. There's isn't a whiff of "music video" in its techniques, especially in the use of live singing. And how critical to eschew roof-raising belt on "Dream..." which would only remind the audience of the contrast between a healthy singing diva and the plight of this character. The melody is so haunting, so powerful in its eloquent expression, this sort of deconstruction persuasively re-introduces it. What could be better? That opening shot of the tundra-like scape and the microscopic image of Valjean. They had me with that. And then, as BestBars noted way back, that one shot of the child Cosette is simply heartbreaking. The whole piece contained therein. How can we not have the higest of hopes?

Personally, I don't want to see a literal backstory realization of Fantine's biographical lyrics. Some man we don't know (who neither sings nor even speaks a word) kissing Hathaway, lolling next to her in a bed, then pulling away on a horse, Fantine crying in the rain. Fantine's screen time is already brief, by nature of the role's size in the story and score. We may get far more of her in montage, but I think revisiting her life before the start of the story proper creates point of view problems. That works beautifully in, say, the Burton SWEENEY, because Mr. Sondheim (and Mr. Wheeler) took care of with the flashback to the ball. It's not added by a director; the assault on Lucy by the Judge is an organic part of the story-telling always incorporated into the staging. And importantly, the Judge is a major player in the foreground.

Updated On: 6/1/12 at 04:46 PM

[sueb1863]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 6:26am

What's weird about the trailer is, in the shot where everyone's standing on the big barricade that's clearly from the finale scene we've seen bring filmed, you can see the dead bodies of soldiers on the front of the barricade, and everyone's waving guns.

Now, for me, the finale of LM has always been an uplifting, optimistic moment, not involving death and violence, so I'm surprised that they seem to have changed its tone for the movie. Singing about putting away the sword while you're waving guns and standing on top of dead bodies doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense...

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 9:49am

I don't think that's the finale. You can just see Eponine in the crowd on the barricade and I would imagine that she would have a more prominent position in the finale.

[sueb1863]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 2:27pm

Hmmm - I was thinking it could also be One Day More, since Rebecca Caine was nearby when they were shooting in Greenwich and heard them singing that, too, but that's also odd. Why would there be dead bodies on the barricade at the end of One Day More? Either way, it's a very strange touch.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 4:35pm

Here's a thought, maybe those aren't dead bodies but just people sleeping...........

Anyways, regarding the finale the time line must has been changed because isn't there a significant time jump from when the battle is over till the wedding?

[My Oh My]

Posted: 6/2/12 at 5:35pm

I like the film's Eponine trench coat costume because it's very, very close to the stage version's. And the stage version's is very effective, especially for "On My Own."

Someone said earlier that the stage version's coat has a very feminine cut. I agree, which is probably what makes it appear almost dress-like. The film version appears to be a lot more tattered and worn and also more masculine. That and the top (in the stage version, Eponine retains her top as worn in act 1) are the only differences between the 2 versions.