Prediction: 'Les Miserables' is going to be a revolutionary hit

The two hour, forty minute screen adaptation of Les Misérables is even more epic on screen than seen live in a theatre. At least the musical has an intermission, something that would have helped the bladders of some of the younger guests at the press screening last week in New York City (we let the eleven-year-old cut in line). The press for the Christmas Day release is approaching a fever
pitch. After seeing the movie last week, I've been busy finding YouTube videos of the 25th anniversary performance and listening to the soundtrack on Spotify. Hearing the musical on other mediums made me realize just how good the screen version is.

On the screen, Les Misérables lives up to the intimate promise of movies. You can see the characters in close-up. Director Tom Hooper's decision to have the actors sing live instead of with playback makes their voices sometimes haggard and strained. For such an tragic, epic story, that realism adds poignancy and revs up the emotional impact. While the London version of Les Misérables features the cast singing in front of a microphone, which I don't particularly like, in the screen version the characters move within their environments--but not too much. It's almost the cinematic equivalent of an actor on a mike. They're shot in close-up, removed from their surroundings, with such a narrow depth of field the background is almost always blurry. Les Misérables has done the impossible: It's just as good as the musical, albeit in different ways. I can't speak for the book yet, though a copy of the thousand-plus-page tome is now downloaded on my Kindle.

While the creative choices are really what make the screen version shine, if the actors couldn't sing, it would have been for nothing. Les Misérables is also a triumph of casting. Who would have thought that so many A-listers could also sing? Anne Hathaway as Fantine and Amanda Seyfried as Cosette? Broadway veteran Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean is no surprise, but Russell Crowe as Javert? Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thenardiers? The biggest surprises, however, are the two characters who were unknowns. Samantha Barks, who was playing Eponine in the London musical, landed the role for the film. Eddie Redmayne, freckled and barely scruffy as Marius, is certainly destined for stardom. In last year's My Week with Marilyn, he played an admirer of the blonde sex symbol. With this role, he may be the heartthrob everyone is ogling. This year's Oscar race will be interesting with Les Misérables in the running. The Academy has a soft spot for musicals, but this is a year of many strong films. After a few years where the victor seemed preordained, this year there are other frontrunners: Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, and Argo.