Phantom of the Opera
Jan. 10th, 2005 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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entertain_crack
I should have a neato Phantom icon for this post, but I don't. Deal.
What is there to say about Phantom of the Opera that hasn't already been said? After decades of popularity I think pretty much every critic and layperson has weighed in with his/her own opinion on Andrew Lloyd Webber's most popular work. It was a musical that has made more money then many movies, a soundtrack that topped charts and now, finally, a silver screen extravaganza. It is both hated and adored, revered and derided.
So, what does one say to the many people who have never seen the musical, never listened to the soundtrack and never gave a rat's ass about some stupid musical before but are now being dragged to the theater by any number of corrupting influences? My first piece of advice is to not listen to any of the critics.
No, really, they're all full of crap.
Now you're all rolling your eyes because you all can already guess that I had a love for the material even before I stepped into the movie theater. I bet you can guess that the Phantom soundtrack was one of the first cds I ever owned, that I've seen it twice on stage, once in Toronto and once at one of the road shows. See, you think that I'm an apologist, someone so caught up in my adolescent memories that I'd love it no matter what, even if it was the most apalling piece of shit that had ever crapped its way across a movie screen.
And there's truth to that, I'll admit it. But I'll also come out and say that my longtime enjoyment of Phantom hasn't blinded me to its faults and weaknesses. I'll admit that it's highblown cheese, a melodramatic spectacle with angst-o-rific lyrics and over-the-top opera hijinks. And I love every minute of it. Me, the person who can't stand 'will they, won't they' bullshit. Me, the person who can't stand the Spider-man movies because they're too cheesy. Me, the person who runs in screaming terror from badfic because I'm sure that the high school angst (and bad spelling) will shrink my brain.
Aaaah, but Phantom is my cheese, and I'll defend it, if I can. For me, Phantom is Andrew Lloyd Webber's homage to the great, overblown operas of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One of the things I most enjoyed about the movie (as compared to the show) is the way it portrayed the theatre life, the little glimpses of the life behind and beyond the curtain. It was such an insular, overblown world itself, full of its own traumas and tragedies which somehow became larger then life because everything has to be bigger on the stage so that the people in the back seat of the top balcony can understand what's going on.
There's a wonderful grandness to the movie. Unfortunately (and here comes one of my movie quibbles) the grandness of the sets and characters is not equaled by Joel Schumacher's direction. The camera shots and cinematography left much to be desired. I'm sure that the fault lies as much with the Director of Photgraphy as with the Director. They were willing to run with the melodrama in everything except the camera work and that is disappointing.
My other quibble is with the sound. Whoever had wired the speakers in the theater I was sitting in did a terrible job. Everytime Carlotta hit those wonderful, impossible high notes of her's the sound went all static-y. Definite feedback loop, very annoying. Also, the dubbing wasn't great. It was just off enough to make me go 'huh?' when the words didn't quite match up with the actors' mouths.
And what was up with the dancing during Masquerade? That was some whacked out shit, that was.
Quibble, quibble, quibble.
All told I felt like the movie did a wonderful job of interpreting the musical for the big screen. I liked the cast. Sure, Gerard Butler isn't a trained singer (and it shows, at times) but I liked what he did with the part. He had an amazing charisma that was perfect for the Phantom. He might be a crazy psycho-stalker freak but he should be a charismatic crazy psycho-stalker freak. Plus Gerard's sexy, and Scottish, and that's all good in my book. I'll never be a fan of Emmy Rossum's voice, too airy, not enough depth, but she was good as Christine, a great blend of naivete and ambition, innocence and seduction, maturity and childishness. The part of Raoul isn't a great one but I liked what Patrick Wilson did with it. I'm sure he had a lot of fun riding around bareback on that white horse in a thin, flouncy blouse.
As much as I enjoyed the leads, my heart and soul will always belong to Carlotta, Andre and Fermin. I have always said that if I had the chance to be in this show I'd want to play one of them (and yes I know Andre and Fermin are male, shut up, it's my fantasy;-). Minnie Driver was perfect in the role of Carlotta, that screaming diva. Love, love, loved her. Can you just imagine how much fun it would be to prance around like that, chewing scenery left and right? Wow.
I don't love Joel Schumacher, he's not a great director, but he sure did give the movie a great look. The art direction was wonderful, the idea to include more backstage life was inspired and his feel for the material (serious, but not too serious) was great.
So, in conclusion, if you're someone like me who can love Phantom while recognizing (and forgiving) its faults and has a desire to be greatly entertained, go and see this movie. Don't take it too seriously, don't try to think too much and please, for the love of all that's good, don't lay in bed afterwards writing a feminist analysis of the movie that plots Christine's character development because that's my idea and I called it first.
Now I must go listen to the soundtrack again.
entertain_crackI should have a neato Phantom icon for this post, but I don't. Deal.
What is there to say about Phantom of the Opera that hasn't already been said? After decades of popularity I think pretty much every critic and layperson has weighed in with his/her own opinion on Andrew Lloyd Webber's most popular work. It was a musical that has made more money then many movies, a soundtrack that topped charts and now, finally, a silver screen extravaganza. It is both hated and adored, revered and derided.
So, what does one say to the many people who have never seen the musical, never listened to the soundtrack and never gave a rat's ass about some stupid musical before but are now being dragged to the theater by any number of corrupting influences? My first piece of advice is to not listen to any of the critics.
No, really, they're all full of crap.
Now you're all rolling your eyes because you all can already guess that I had a love for the material even before I stepped into the movie theater. I bet you can guess that the Phantom soundtrack was one of the first cds I ever owned, that I've seen it twice on stage, once in Toronto and once at one of the road shows. See, you think that I'm an apologist, someone so caught up in my adolescent memories that I'd love it no matter what, even if it was the most apalling piece of shit that had ever crapped its way across a movie screen.
And there's truth to that, I'll admit it. But I'll also come out and say that my longtime enjoyment of Phantom hasn't blinded me to its faults and weaknesses. I'll admit that it's highblown cheese, a melodramatic spectacle with angst-o-rific lyrics and over-the-top opera hijinks. And I love every minute of it. Me, the person who can't stand 'will they, won't they' bullshit. Me, the person who can't stand the Spider-man movies because they're too cheesy. Me, the person who runs in screaming terror from badfic because I'm sure that the high school angst (and bad spelling) will shrink my brain.
Aaaah, but Phantom is my cheese, and I'll defend it, if I can. For me, Phantom is Andrew Lloyd Webber's homage to the great, overblown operas of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One of the things I most enjoyed about the movie (as compared to the show) is the way it portrayed the theatre life, the little glimpses of the life behind and beyond the curtain. It was such an insular, overblown world itself, full of its own traumas and tragedies which somehow became larger then life because everything has to be bigger on the stage so that the people in the back seat of the top balcony can understand what's going on.
There's a wonderful grandness to the movie. Unfortunately (and here comes one of my movie quibbles) the grandness of the sets and characters is not equaled by Joel Schumacher's direction. The camera shots and cinematography left much to be desired. I'm sure that the fault lies as much with the Director of Photgraphy as with the Director. They were willing to run with the melodrama in everything except the camera work and that is disappointing.
My other quibble is with the sound. Whoever had wired the speakers in the theater I was sitting in did a terrible job. Everytime Carlotta hit those wonderful, impossible high notes of her's the sound went all static-y. Definite feedback loop, very annoying. Also, the dubbing wasn't great. It was just off enough to make me go 'huh?' when the words didn't quite match up with the actors' mouths.
And what was up with the dancing during Masquerade? That was some whacked out shit, that was.
Quibble, quibble, quibble.
All told I felt like the movie did a wonderful job of interpreting the musical for the big screen. I liked the cast. Sure, Gerard Butler isn't a trained singer (and it shows, at times) but I liked what he did with the part. He had an amazing charisma that was perfect for the Phantom. He might be a crazy psycho-stalker freak but he should be a charismatic crazy psycho-stalker freak. Plus Gerard's sexy, and Scottish, and that's all good in my book. I'll never be a fan of Emmy Rossum's voice, too airy, not enough depth, but she was good as Christine, a great blend of naivete and ambition, innocence and seduction, maturity and childishness. The part of Raoul isn't a great one but I liked what Patrick Wilson did with it. I'm sure he had a lot of fun riding around bareback on that white horse in a thin, flouncy blouse.
As much as I enjoyed the leads, my heart and soul will always belong to Carlotta, Andre and Fermin. I have always said that if I had the chance to be in this show I'd want to play one of them (and yes I know Andre and Fermin are male, shut up, it's my fantasy;-). Minnie Driver was perfect in the role of Carlotta, that screaming diva. Love, love, loved her. Can you just imagine how much fun it would be to prance around like that, chewing scenery left and right? Wow.
I don't love Joel Schumacher, he's not a great director, but he sure did give the movie a great look. The art direction was wonderful, the idea to include more backstage life was inspired and his feel for the material (serious, but not too serious) was great.
So, in conclusion, if you're someone like me who can love Phantom while recognizing (and forgiving) its faults and has a desire to be greatly entertained, go and see this movie. Don't take it too seriously, don't try to think too much and please, for the love of all that's good, don't lay in bed afterwards writing a feminist analysis of the movie that plots Christine's character development because that's my idea and I called it first.
Now I must go listen to the soundtrack again.
