I really
love Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five
Years – gorgeous music, complex themes, intriguing plotting, and some
terrific lyrics. If I recall correctly,
it was my introduction to Brown as a composer, as well as Norbert Leo Butz as
an actor. Today, though, we’re not
looking at Brown’s original 2001 off-Broadway music but the 2014 film
adaptation of it. Seeing Newsies in the theater reinvigorated my
interest in filmed musicals and movie musicals, which allowed me to finally
bring this movie up on my Netflix queue (premise spoilers.)
As in the
stage show, The Last Five Years is
the story of the relationship between Jamie, a young writer who experiences a
whirlwind rise to fame, and Cathy, an aspiring actress who can’t seem to catch
a break. The film takes us from the
relationship’s breathless beginning to its tearful end – nothing all that
unique in and of itself, but the split, non-linear narrative guides us through
it from opposite ends. Jamie’s songs
open with their first date and move forward, while Cathy’s begin with the
dissolution of their relationship five years later and move backward.
This was
a really frustrating adaptation for me.
It has a lot of good things going for it and could have been great, but
for my money, the direction lets down both the source material and the
cast. First off, we have the translation
of the story from script to screen. To
me, it mostly feels uninspired. Some
numbers (like “Still Hurting”) seem to be directed too statically while others
(like “Shiksa Goddess”) are hampered by some really cheesy-looking love scenes
– having the actors run their hands over each other while one sings with their
mouth close to the other’s while never actually kissing them doesn’t look as
convincing as director Richard LaGravenese seems to think it does. Also, there are very few cinematic markers to
signify the non-linear narrative. Little
hints – changing hair/clothing styles, conspicuous shots of things with the
date on them (like a New Year’s Eve banner or a sign for a summer theatre’s
season) – but not much in the actual filmmaking itself. To be fair, the first time I heard the stage
recording, I already knew how the narrative device worked, so I can’t say how
much of this is the material versus the adaptation. But for the film at least, I think I might
have spent at least the first few scenes pretty confused if I hadn’t known the
set-up going in. The movie needs something, and I’ll admit I’m not sure
what, but there had to be a more cinematic way to indicate the changing time.
Part of
this is because of how present each character is in the other one’s
numbers. The show is designed mostly as
a series of alternating solos, with the two only singing together when their
timelines meet in the middle for their wedding, and it tends to be staged with
the “off” actor in any given song absent together, positioned with their back
to the audience, or otherwise somewhat removed from the proceedings compared to
their scene partner. Here, though, both
actors are present onscreen throughout quite a few of the songs, the “off”
actor visibly, and sometimes verbally, reacting to the other’s songs. I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, it helps to give a better
picture of what Cathy and Jamie’s relationship is like and fleshes them out
more as a couple. On the other, it blurs
the clear delineations between the two narratives and muddies the focus a
little. Again, there had to be a
cinematic fix for this.
These
issues are disappointing, not only because of how much I enjoy the original
score/story, but because of how good the cast is. This is an intimate story that really depends
on just two actors to carry it through, and Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan are
both excellent. Kendrick is an able
singer who sells Cathy’s joy, heartbreak, worry, and hope in equal measure, and
Jordan’s superb vocals and nuanced performance keep Jamie engaging even when he
stops being likeable. These two are a
winning combination for these roles and sell the connection between their
characters, but mostly, they make me wish they were in a film that served them
better.
Warnings
Swearing,
mild sexual content, drinking, and thematic elements.
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