Les Miz, watching it on Broadway and on film

Melodramatic. Superfluous. Over the top. Sentimental. These are some of the words thrown by acerbic film critics on the film.  I don’t blame them. It is and I love it.

While the norm for films nowadays seem to be on the subdued, the minimalist plot centering on the angsty hero, anti-hero, this film flings all that like someone barging through the doors with his ridiculously colored costume and singing at the top of his lungs unabashedly crying, rejoicing and screaming with all his might while the repressed, constipated spectators/critics watch in horror, beating their breast and clutching on their “modern” preconceived notion of what a film should be in the 21^st century. 

(movie stills from cinemablend.com)

I can't understand the pillage of words spewed by these pseudo-intellectual busybodies. Just because a film is heartfelt doesn't mean it's cliché, uninventive. People love it, they are moved by it. They are affected by it, isn't that a film is supposed to do, make you feel, make you think or even make you cry? Or are we at an age where eye-popping CGI or special effects with a thin plot supposed to be the better film? Maybe I’m just an old-fashioned prick but I like a film that still deals with human emotions, human realities even without CGI. And to the critics, those sitting on their high horses ruining the moment for some of us before we can judge the film for ourselves, maybe they should feel their pulse once in a while to check if their heart is still beating. Harsh, I know. But if you could have read what a critic in New Yorker said (especially the one of a Mr. Denby) these lines are way kinder.

Speaking of New York, I have watched Les Miserables on Broadway.  It was the first and only Broadway show I watched in the Big Apple. So yes, I will defend it rather vigorously. New York and Les Miz are intertwined in my memory. I only spent days in that city but it was a heady experience, what with my first subway ride and my first time in the lively Times Square. And also my first time to have the sun shine so merrily in the sky and leave my ears almost frozen like an ice cube. Coming from a tropical country, that was a dumbfounding experience. I always thought that if the sun was up, it was supposed to make the day, well,  warm and sunny but apparently, not always. I thought winter was supposed to be colder or is February still winter? Because I've seen winter, trudged in snow in Vancouver and watched snowflakes form on my hand and it was bearable so the whipping cold in Manhattan was quite a surprise to me.

Going back, I watched Les Miz very high up on a theater one cold February evening in 2002. And the only thing lacking then were binoculars. My cousin purchased tickets on sale so I can't really be choosy, can I? Only grateful. That time I think it was $25. Thank God, the actors had superb singing voices because they still resonated clear to me even if I felt I was stories high.

Honestly, I didn't have any idea what I was watching then. It was a musical and that's that. I was in the "I'm in New York so I should watch a musical "mindset. And along the course of the musical, I became enthralled by the story of Jean Valjean. When the priest gave him his second chance and made a better life for him and others, that part endeared me to this musical. I don’t remember much of the other characters after that, didn't even read Victor Hugo’s novel (yes, until now). It was just Jean Valjean and yes, I also remember him carrying this boy that his daughter was in love with, other than that I can’t recall much.

So when I heard Les Miz the movie was being filmed, I was happy. Who would play, Jean Valjean? I thought. And it was High Jackman. Wolverine. Wow. I like him, he does exude a good moral center and had some experience in musicals so I think he will nail it.

I wasn't disappointed. He delivered well. It’s just a little weird watching him in an almost falsetto-like voice in the beginning but he’s more of an actor than a singer so that’s fine besides the emotions he conveyed on screen was spot on. The first scenes of him pulling on a rope on a chilly morning with other prisoners, gaunt with bloodshot eyes were raw and gritty. He really does have a wide acting range, Jean Valjean was quite different from his tough, sarcastic X-men character. And embarrassing as it may to write this, his portrayal triggered the waterworks in me, I was dabbing my eyes many times. He was that good.

Morever, when he sang, Who am I? Rationalizing his unwillingness to expose himself as the wanted prisoner because other people depend on him, that was one of his touching scenes with my own clichéd tears rolling down my cheeks again and finally his dying scene, that was the clincher. That scene, I feared I would sob out loud but thankfully did not. Just red-eyed after, letting the others go out first then hurriedly sneaked out after.

Anne Hathaway was good too. I love her I Dreamed a Dream scene. It was wrenching. I also love Eponine’s On My Own played by Samantha Banks. She sang the emotion of someone suffering from unrequited love quite well. Then there was Eddie Redmayne who played Marius. That longing look for Cosette made a lot of women swoon including me. 

Then there’s Amanda Seyfried who played Cosette, beguiling with her large, doe-eyes. She didn’t have a lot of scenes but she was believable as the loving daughter of Jean Valjean and the forlorn young lady in love with Marius. The younger Cosette was also good, with her sweet voice and innocent looks, it’s to see easy why Jean Valjean was protective of her. Their scene in the carriage with was quite touching.

On the other hand, Russel Crowe seems to be the odd man here. He looked uncomfortable with the singing that his acting didn't register much on screen. But still, it was a valiant effort, to try some things outside one’s acting comfort zone. That in itself is commendable.

There were criticisms however, why there were a lot of close-ups. My guess is, the director, Tom Hooper wanted to focus on the emotions not the singing. On musicals, where the audience is far away, singing is the focus, they have to exaggerate their singing, their movements because it has to be heard and felt by the person in the last row. But in a movie, it is about seeing these emotions up close, something you don’t always experience in a true musical. It’s a different experience all together and gives the audience to a closer look at the characters and empathize with them.

Overall, the experience of Les Miserables on Broadway and on film were both uniquely satisfying because at its center is Victor Hugo’s story that is not only complex but enduring. It had a lot of sub-plots that were equally engaging.

For me, the transformation of Jean Valjean was the key that unlocked the stories of the other characters. It was his generosity that changed the life of others. He accepted the gift of a second chance graciously and made good with it while others who cannot fathom such blessing like Javert, rigid with his self-imposed ideals imploded. Cleverly interwoven too, in Jean Valjean’s story was the love and sacrifices that people can make for one’s child like Fantine and one's cause as shown by the young revolutionaries’ zeal against the bigger French army. And at the same time, he also showed that amid all the chaos the blush of first love like Marius and Cosette’s can still blossom even at the heartbreaking mist of Eponine’s unreturned affection.

I can’t imagine how hard Victor Hugo worked to weave these stories together. Just telling one story is hard enough so to have complex characters with their own backstory was inspiring. Moreover, re-telling this complex story again through the songs composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil was also  fascinating.It heightened its sense of poignancy, magnifying the highs of love and the despair of loss. Les Miz may be a story written a century ago but it's something we can still relate to today, its story is enduring and will always be fondly remembered by many. I'm glad I watched it.

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz, a raw account on heartbreak

After the holidays and the onslaught of errands, I finally finished Junot Diaz’s “This is How You Lose Her”. I finished it when I decided to limit my time in cyberspace and slash those moments going after inane topics littered on the net. Sometimes it’s hard to resist the buffet of information spread out there. It’s easy to get lost on the newest drama of the Kardashians or the yoyo-dieting of Jessica Simpson. I hate to admit it, reading entertainments news is a guilty pleasure of mine. So I had to restrain myself and go back to reality and finish this good book.

Because this collection of short stories was meant to be buckled down and read in earnest, taking in the thoughts and insights of individuals on heartbreak in all its vulnerability. And as I immersed myself more into it, I realized that this book was more than stories of teenage angst or guilt but also a glimpse of other people's realities growing up as a minority in the States. 

The author used a lot of colorful Spanish slangs for description and honestly, I don’t mind. I have read J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” so this book’s  familiarity with profanity is not a big shock anymore. With sprinkles of dialect in the dialogues, it lends a “flavor” to the book that not many writers can pull off. It is definitely a far cry from the Western novels I have read in the past, points of view of white males/females from the middle class.

Because this book, though there are some stories of women too, is mostly about the stories of a young Dominican called Yunior uprooted from Santo Domingo talking about his life in his new country, his family, and his adventures with women. And like it or not, with this account comes a froth of machismo and bravado smothered in the language.  But still, it is steeped with emotion.

More than that, this book thrives in contradiction too. I have not read a book written by a man who could describe his women with crude, sometimes demeaning scrutiny and at the same time expose his hurts with gaping, naked honesty when he loses them. You hate him and then feel sorry for him. Because who doesn't remember the wallowing in the sadness, the inability to move on during your worst heartbreak? It is the rawness of the author’s words that sears at you, a rawness that is often camouflaged by roughness that the character is trying to project. But it is there and you feel it.

But this collection of short stories is not all about heartbreak about women. There are also stories about heartbreak in the family. For the young man with all his tough guy swagger, this book exposes some of his vulnerabilities too. Going past all the girls he mentioned here, one can also see the concern of a brother to his sick older brother and a concern of a son to his mother.

What I also liked about this book is its attempt to be true to the author’s roots. He is Dominican and he’s not afraid to show it in his writing. The dialogues of his characters were surprisingly nonchalant, like ordinary Dominican-American kids just talking. He doesn't pretend to be someone else, not a minority that's so westernized his characters feels stilted or put on. Mr. Diaz has a respect for his country, his language, his culture. It may not be the native land of his dreams but still his motherland.

Reading a book riddled with Dominican “flavored” prose has a quirky appeal to it because it reads different. Like trying out an exotic dish. I plowed right through it even though there are some Latino words I can't understand. Besides, I liked the dialogues and musings, they were short and staccato but still delivered a punch. No need to think too much if this character meant this thing or meant something else and no gritting over long winded ramblings from the protagonists. 

Given that, I look forward to reading the author's Pulitzer-winning book, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”. I'm sure it will be a new literary adventure for me because it's a new plot carved with prose that is neither old-fashioned, wordy or flamboyant like this one. Honestly, I prefer that kind of writing. I lack the time for reading so this is easier to go back to without re-imagining any frilly details like a character's wardrobe. I like his style, simple and to the point but not lacking in emotional gravity.

Here are some excerpts:

“In those last weeks when he finally became too feeble to run away he refused to talk to you or your mother. Didn't utter a single word until he died. Your mother did not care. She loved him and prayed over him and talked to him like he was still OK. But it wounded you, that stubborn silence. His last fucking days and he wouldn’t say a word. You ask him something straight up, How are you feeling today and Rafa would just turn his head. Like you all didn’t deserve an answer. Like no one did.”

“You try every trick in the book to keep her. You write her letters. You drive her to work. You quote Neruda. You compose a mass e-mail disowning all your sucias. You block their e-mails. You change your phone number. You stop drinking. You stop smoking. You claim you’re a sex addict and start attending meetings. You blame your father. You blame your mother. You blame the patriarchy.. You blame Santo Domingo. You find a therapist. You cancel your Facebook..”

 “For a while you haunt the city, like a two-bit player dreaming of a call-up. You phone her everyday and leave messages which she doesn’t answer. You write her long sensitive letters, which she returns unopened. You even show up at her apartment at odd hours and at her job at downtown until finally her little sister calls you, the one who was always on your side and she makes it plain: If you try to contact my sister again, she’s going to put a restraining order on you”

“It takes a while. You see the tall girl. You go to more doctors. You celebrate Arlenny’s PH.D. defense. And one June night, you scribble the ex’s name and: The half-life of love is forever.

You bust out a couple more things. Then you put your head down. The next day you look at the new pages. For once you don’t want to burn them or give up writing forever”.