Dreamgirls

I read a review sometime ago stating that when Jennifer Hudson sang “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”, she inscribed her name on an Oscar. I got curious, so I listened to the song. Other than a woman singing a heartbreaking tune zealously, it didn’t make a lasting impression. Until I saw Dreamgirls today, then I got it.

Let’s just say that hairs on my nape uncontrollably stood up during her moving act.

4/5.

My Fair Lady

Seen a good movie lately?

Nope, I saw a great one. Another one deserving the highest rating there is to give. I didn’t decide upon it as soon as I finished it, it didn’t even cross my mind while watching it, but now it’s so clear that My Fair Lady is not only one of the greatest musicals ever, but also of the greatest movies.

It is especially great because there are things I do not really like about it, things that usually influence me heavily when considering any particular movie. First of all, the leading actress, Audrey Hepburn. She might be very famous around her time and is still adored years later, but I don’t know, I just dislike her. Not ‘dislike’ dislike, I’d just rather see someone else on screen even though the role fits her perfectly. Like her character in Charade, for example. I love that movie. And she was doing a nice job along with Cary Grant. I complained she was too young. Then in Roman Holiday, when she was doing what no other actress could have done, I dissed the story just because her performance was too “princessy”. Maybe I just don’t like her for no reason, or maybe it began with Breakfast at Tiffany, which I didn’t get and didn’t like.

Second, from 1 to 10, without knowing or having heard of the story, how many people could guess that the old professor and the flower girl–decidedly so beneath him at first look–would end up together? It’s not the not-so-unlikely love story that bothers me, it’s the actor. The guy must be, what, 50? 60? Even Colonel Pickering looked younger on screen that he. Henry Higgins might be highly educated and handsome to some in the movie, (I will need to take a second look at Rex Harrison) but the soon-to-be relationship didn’t dawn on me until 3/4 of the movie. (Usually I’m pretty good at detecting working chemistry.) It’s looking at the main actor that dismissed the idea at the first thought. I’m not saying that Rex Harrison is not handsome or whatever, it’s the story basically, and the actor who took on the role just didn’t click. Whether or not in the original play Professor Higgins was in his 50s, I can’t say for sure. The character Eliza Doolittle was perhaps in her 20s (Hepburn was in her early 30s when doing it). So if the flower girl is around 20, and the professor is indeed in his 50s, how out-of-the-world is the idea of pairing such characters together in the era of.. early 1900s? Rex Harrison himself was in his mid 50s when doing the role, and seeing that the role had also been offered before to Cary Grant (who was 4 years older than Harrison), I would presume that Professor Higgins is in fact an old guy.

Not that the whole romance idea between the upper class and lower class is a bad idea. The characters make a good couple at the end. Initially I thought the flower girl would go on herself and be successful with a flower shop or marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill or something. It just comes out as a little.. unnoticed to me, that’s all. By the way, some ending the movie was. Classic!

Third, because it is a musical, I had problems with the songs, as I always do. Some are classically good and funny and original, and some are disturbingly repetitive. But my biggest annoyance are the spoken lyrics. Unheard music, hardly distinguished tones (when Higgins sings), and it happens too long until the song is really sung. For me it was like waiting, waiting, and waiting for something great to emerge. I know it’s normal in plays and musicals to be “speaking” lyrics, nonetheless it just didn’t work for me very well.

Apparently, my problem with the actress, the underlying idea, and the music still has to give way to an unbiased opinion that recognizes the quality of this movie. Man, to round it up simply, My Fair Lady is charming! The characters are funny and endearing at most times, even the “fake” setting and costume are marvelous. It’s what happened when you let a great play be taken into account seriously.

Superbly 5/5.

West Side Story

In one of those rare moments, I disapprove of critics’ rating for perhaps-the-best-musical-ever-made West Side Story. Involuntarily reminded of it last night while watching a video clip of Toto’s Rosanna playing on tv, my memory brought me back to a day in January 2006, when I’d had a full day and this movie was supposed to serve as a pleasure to watch. What transpired was a lot of “forward” clicks everytime members of The Sharks or The Jets started twirling or whatever the hell they were doing and singing some very old songs. My God, it was excruciating. What kept me on was the prospect of hearing perhaps-the-most-popular-musical-songs (aside from Andrew Llyod Webber’s tacky rock rendition of Phantom of the Opera) Somewhere and I Feel Pretty, which I’m quite fond of, by the way. Not halfway through the movie, I asked myself whether it was some kind of fake sequel or something from the real musical adaption. It turned out I just flatly despised it. In every way.

It would probably bring good memories to my mom; the dances, the outifts, everything. Myself, I’d rather watch Britney Spears.

1/5.