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Pierremont
Reviews
Les Misérables (1935)
See it for Fredric March
There are a couple of gorgeous scenes in this film. Valjean's awakening is an absolutely transcendent moment. But overall, everything is way too rushed and compressed for my taste. The story rarely has any opportunity to breathe. If this version has anything going for it, it's Fredric March's exceptionally intelligent performance as Jean Valjean.
One huge turnoff for me is something that I frequently encounter whenever I watch period flicks from the 1930s and 40s. Apart from Fredric March, the actors all deliver their lines in a highly stylized accent which completely takes me out of the story. I didn't buy any of them as 19th century French people..... there wasn't a moment when I wasn't aware that I was watching a Hollywood production from 1935. Charles Laughton has this posh voice which is so completely wrong for a character like Javert, for a character with the kind of upbringing that he's had. The guy is supposed to have been born in a jail and raised by gypsies, and Laughton talks like someone in a Noel Coward play. However, he is so present emotionally that I can overlook it to a certain extent. The kid who plays young Cosette is godawful. She is so earnest and fakey and sounds like she came from somewhere in Nebraska.
National Theatre Live: Yerma (2017)
Devastating brilliance
This is, quite simply, the most eviscerating piece of art I have ever seen. I can say without exaggeration that no actor has ever achieved more than what Billie Piper delivers here. She takes the role to places I have never seen anyone go to. Her work is so soul-shattering, it is nearly impossible to watch as the story mounts toward its heartrending climax. Witnessing this performance is a seriously upsetting experience.... you will not be the same person afterward.
All I can say is, you owe it to yourself as a human being to run off to the next screening of this show. It is nothing short of a crime that the National Theatre hasn't released it on DVD so that everyone can see this extraordinary show.
Watership Down (2018)
Kiddified miniseries is underwhelming
Rather disappointing overall. I actually wasn't as bothered by the animation as other people were..... at times, the movement of the rabbits looked a bit video game-like (mostly in the underground scenes) but the background art is gorgeous. The visuals are the least of this miniseries' issues. Except for General Woundwort (voiced brilliantly by Ben Kingsley), the rabbits all look alike for the most part. To be fair, this is a weakness that has come up in every other adaptation of the novel, and I don't blame the voice actors. But I think a lot more could have been done to establish the individual personalities of each rabbit.
The biggest problem I had with the show is that there is no sense of danger in the story at all. Cowslip's warren was neither creepy or sinister, and Fiver's visions just weren't startling enough..... the stakes were so low, I never once doubted that these rabbits were going to be ok up until Episode 4. It's only 3/4ths of the way through that we finally start to see any real dramatic tension.
Anyone who is unfamiliar with Watership Down will not get a sense of how complex the story is from watching this miniseries. I would strongly urge anyone about to watch this show to go and rent the 1978 version directed by Martin Rosen instead. Rosen's film is absolutely magnificent, one of the finest animated movies ever made.