Contrition, a film (screenwriter and director)

http://www.schooltube.com/video/c7d6a0e8b282485bb9fb/Contrition

Les Miserables Review, a film review

     With his newest picture, director Tom Hooper takes the word film and wrings it dry of any vilifying Hollywood stereotype, beefs it up until every aspect is either a reflection or continuity of his vision, and creates one of the most moving and exquisite motion pictures of the year. Add to that gorgeous visuals, flying voices, and heartrending performances by a coterie of dedicated actors – not to mention the soul-searching score that has already moved generations of theater-goers – and you’ll get Les Misérables, a film whose every artistic department strives to surpass one another in aesthetic, be that vocals, costumes, or set design – Hooper’s magnum opus and nominee of a grand total of eight Academy Awards.

     Les Misérables, or “Les Mis,” as it is affectionately dubbed, weaves together the multifaceted stories of eight different people – young and old, rich and poor – into an amalgamated tale of despair and hope, struggle and defiance, all taking place upon the waving banner of the French Revolution.  
  

     Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is a recently freed ex-convict stirred to change his thieving ways after being gifted a pair of two silver candle-holders by a kindly bishop. Years later we meet him, groomed and shaven, a factory owner and doer of good deeds. He meets the pitiful Fantine (Anne Hathaway), who has to resort to prostitution in order to feed her young daughter, Cossette (Isabelle Allen). Horrified, Valjean decides to find Cossette, all the while being pursued by the exacting and determined policeman Javert (Russel Crowe). Valjean discovers Cossette living in an unhygienic pigsty of an inn, under the care of Thénardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his wife, Madame Thénardier (Helena Bonham Carter). Valjean essentially buys Cossette away from her aunt and uncle, and treats her as his own daughter. As time passes Cossette grows into a beautiful young woman (Amanda Seyfried), who falls into a mutual love with left-wing rich-boy Marius (Eddie Redmayne), who in turn is oblivious to the advances of poor-girl Éponine (Samantha Barks). As the film unravels, each character’s story becomes intertwined with that of another until the entire film practically pulses with emotion, bearing the trademark sentiment and savory twang of literature’s most celebrated epics.

    First and foremost, Les Mis’s set production is one of magical proportions – interior, exterior, within and without we discover 18^th Century France as it’s never been revealed before. We fly down streets encapsulated by sloping apartments, climb up mountainsides capped with snow and grass, and sink inside abandoned ships dripping with dank and mold. Through the remarkable majesty of an antique age caught up in a raucous revolution, Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson bring us a world of color and grandeur, where barricades line the streets and flags fly from every corner.

     Costumes are magnificent and orchestrated as ever, thanks to an exceedingly perceptive Paco Delgado. Delgado is remarkably in-tune with each character’s personality; each frill and layer is assigned to them in kind: ingenuous Cossette is frequently seen flying about in puffed sleeves while sweet Fantine sports a girlish, innocent pink.

     Throughout the film, Hooper and cinematographer Danny Cohen employ an ingenious technique of close-ups on actors during individual songs. This method creates an appropriate ambiance: the focus of the songs is the actors and the actors only. As an audience, we are held captivated by every streak of emotion that crosses Javert’s face, every tear that drips from Fantine’s eyes. Through this system Hooper exhumes a passion buried so deep that no stage production has ever been able to touch it before.

     There isn’t much to say for music, as the same tunes have been gracing theaters for decades. Minus the inclusion of “Suddenly” – a song written purely for the film and composed with so much regard to the original score that one would be hard-pressed to pick out which one was not the original – the same heartrending music and lyrics remain for the film. As for the singing, the cast is relatively decent for a band of Hollywood actors who, well, act for a living (of course, this doesn’t include hot-off-of-Broadway British prodigy Samantha Barks). For some of the cast (ahem, Russel Crowe), lack of singing ability is more obvious than others. Yet what lacks in voice is made up for in acting, and Crowe does this remarkably in his portrayal of Javert.

     Not the best of singers, Crowe certainly is the best of actors, and uses this ability to his advantage. His aptitude for playing the troubled and ambitious French policeman is extraordinary on a deep, human level. While watching his performance, the audience can practically perceive Javert’s emotions burrowing deep inside their psyche. And as for being the villain for most of the film, Crowe still demonstrates the propensity to jerk the tears from our eyes, and the sympathy from our hearts.

     Okay, Anne Hathaway. Probably going to win the BAFTA. Probably going to win the Oscar. And probably going to win a lot of other things, too. It’d be safe to call her performance the most heartrending of the entire film, and it’d be right (sorry, Hugh). Ms. Hathaway blew us all away, and “I Dreamed a Dream” just capped off the experience. Playing Fantine – possibly one of the most undeservedly abused and mistreated creature in storytelling history – Hathaway disappears entirely from her former princess persona and descends to a level so much darker and despairing than one we’ve ever seen her in before. She sings beautifully; she acts compellingly. She literally becomes Fantine, and she does so perfectly.

     In conclusion, if you pick ten members from an audience and ask them what they thought of Les Mis, you’ll probably get ten different answers. And that’s exactly what this film is. There are so many beautiful things hidden in this treasure-trove that no word can accurately sum up all it has to offer. It is simply, indescribably… magical. This exquisite picture is an emotional powerhouse of a film that will leave you exhausted… but wanting to watch it again, and again, and again – simply for that pure, ethereal thrill of falling in love with a good story.