Out of sheer curiosity and in pursuit of critical integrity I did go to see Les Mis.
And I was very impressed - by the acting - I think Ann Hathaway deserved her BAFTA, and Hugh Jackman ought to be a strong contender for the Acting Oscar, working so hard and heroically. Of course DDL as Lincoln must be a shoo-in, but....- by the directing, production design, photography and sound.
Unfortunately the sound reproduced the music, and as I expected I hated just about every bar of it. I have nothing against musicals, and enjoy some of them enormously, especially if Stephen Sondheim has been involved, but the music in Les Mis seems to me to be stridently sentimental, banal and so so lazy. Are there more than 5 tunes in the whole thing? It seems they were endlessly, meanly recycled, with occasional attempts at trios and even an abandoned attempt at a sung quartet. And did any of the tunes have more than seven notes? I know that many people are deeply moved by the score, but if you are one of them can you imagine what it is like for those of us who are not?
Thank God for Sasha Baron-Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter, the only light in the heaviness.
