This. This is why I like seeing so many movies and setting such a low threshold for what I will see. Occasionally, I feel silly telling a friend “I’m not interested in seeing this movie at all, but it’s in theaters and I’ve gotta see something.” A normal person would just skip going to the theater that week, and normally, they are right to do so. I’ve seen so many movies that weren’t worth the cost of the ticket or time spent. Other than my love of the ritual of seeing movies, I set my threshold so low because every once in a while, I see something out of habit that completely gobsmacks me. Maybe it was the low expectations or just being in the perfect headspace for it, but I had a full smile from beginning to end watching Cyrano. I fully loved this movie.
You should know the story of Cyrano de Bergerac by now, so I won’t bother with a plot summary here. The key details this time are that Cyrano is a little person played by Peter Dinklage instead of a deformed man. Haley Bennett plays his love interest, Roxanne. Kelvin Harrison Jr. is the man Cyrano helps woo Roxanne. This version differs in that it is a musical based on a stage musical adaptation. I wouldn’t call any of the songs bangers. Most of the songs are stagy in that way where the lines try to fit in the music like both were written independently. Or perhaps it just took a while for me to adapt to them. I definitely felt that the songs toward the end were better than in the beginning. Regardless, I didn’t mind, because the music was more about tone than anything else. It reminded me a lot of Umbrellas of Cherbourg in that way. There’s music in the air.
I’m really coming around on Joe Wright as a director. A lot of his earlier movies made only mild impressions on me for some reason. I thoroughly enjoyed Darkest Hour though, and Cyrano has me convinced that I need to do a full-scale reassessment. Joe Wright makes this movie like no one ever let him make a music video. I don’t know if he ever did make one, but he certainly had a few in him that he had to get out now. Some of these musical sequences are over the top and I ate it up. It reminded me of that weird kid at school everyone laughed at who was always happy, living his best life. Wright has some ideas for Cyrano and wasn’t letting anyone calm them down. He’s 100% seeing a vision all the way through.
This movie is earnest but very funny. Cyrano is known for his wit and that’s Dinklage’s specialty. He and Haley Bennett have such wonderful exchanges. Even just side comments of theirs are clever. The whole movie switches back and forth between witty dialogue and earnest songs with splashy production. It was tonally unexpected but exactly what I wanted, it turns out.
Technically, there are some limitations to the story that the film can’t fix. The 3-year jump at the end would be written differently now. The central deceit of Roxanne ages worse with each passing year. The film does what it can to make her a character and not an object. It does a good job of presenting Cyrano’s belief that she could never love him as a problem in his head more than one outwardly presented by her. The war scenes are half-baked too. The pacing on stage works differently than in film.
Despite my small quibbles, I can’t speak highly enough about this movie. I wasn’t excited to see it at all. I probably would’ve skipped it if I wasn’t committed to try and see every Oscar nominee I can. I’m glad I did though. It was a treat. Lovely and funny and charming and dramatic. I ate it all up.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment