Bonus Episode: Les Miserables

Comments

5 responses to “Bonus Episode: Les Miserables”

1. Episode 33: Chinatown | Movies You Should Love

   February 3, 2013

   […] Scott’s Les Miserables podcast review. […]
2. 

   Claudiu Dobre

   April 8, 2013

   Love that you love this movie! So many haters… It’s also my favorite of the year, more or less tied with Life of Pi. What a great year!
   1. 

      Scott

      April 9, 2013

      I got in trouble just today for listening to the soundtrack a little too loudly at work. I’ve pretty much been listening to the soundtrack nonstop since Christmas Day (only pausing to record and to listen to podcasts). SO, SO GOOD.
      1. 

         Claudiu Dobre

         April 11, 2013

         I know :), there are some fantastic songs there! Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” is awesome – and you’re right, her performance (not just the song but all of it) is, just as you put it, heartbreaking, and the success of her performance is, in my opinion, essential to the success of the whole movie, because had Fantine not been a completely believable/sympathetic character, it would have been much harder to get into the rest of the characters’ plights and problems as well, on an emotional level.
         However, my favorite song is “Do You Hear the People Sing”, and not just because I LOVE the ending… And there are so many others… It’s definitely my favorite musical since Cabaret (and I love Moulin Rouge as well, but not this much).
         I’m lucky, I work at home on my laptop, so I can listen to whatever I want while I’m working. 🙂

         I have to admit the live singing didn’t completely work for me at first, even though I still loved the movie by the end. I don’t go to the opera that much, which is more or less what this is, so I’m not necessarily used to that kind of thing. But the second time it just felt completely natural, it worked beautifully and the movie was even more amazing than the first time. On the strength of that first time alone it was very close to being my favorite movie of the new decade, but after the second one it became a lock. Like I said, I love Life of Pi, as well as Inglorious Basterds, quite a bit, but if I have to choose one, my heart says “Les Miserables”.
3. 

   Douglas

   April 30, 2013

   I did love this movie but prior to seeing it I watched the 1952 version with Michael Renne when TCM showed three versions back to back to back. I also love opera and this movie is an opera. I don’t think there is any way to argue it. I don’t know anything about the original stage musical though. So even though I really, really loved this movie I did wonder how much of the story I was filling in. And some was filled in for me as the 1952 version didn’t really get into Fantine’s story very much.

   Watching this movie led me to get the audio version of the novel and then it led me to your podcast because I searched on “Victor Hugo” on iTunes looking for a biographical podcast on Hugo. BBC does Great Lives which I subscribe to but there is no show on Victor Hugo as yet.

   And now that Victor has led me to your podcast I have been catching up on past episodes starting with the ones that strike my fancy first.

   Anyway, great movie, I found the filming and framing interesting. I try to watch any movie on two levels, first the surface story and secondly looking for any sort of and then I also try to be aware of the soundtrack, so three levels. Except a lot of times I forget the third level.