Movie Review: Into the Woods
Jan. 10th, 2015 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjDon't laugh, but I've never actually consumed Sondheim's Into the Woods in any form previously. Enough good things were said about it by various friends that it jumped to the top of the list for this weekend's entertainment. (Just barely squeaking past Annie which I may well fit in tomorrow.) I know that various people had been concerned that the darker aspects of the story might get "Disnified", but I've been assured that it's fairly true to the stage version. In any case, my comments are going to cover experience as a whole without distinguishing between aspects specific to the movie from aspects of the script.
For those even less familiar with this work than I was, it's the tale of a likable but unfortunate couple who get caught in the middle of a web of fairy tale plot-thread and must work their way through to get the Mcguffins to the witch in order to break the curse she's laid on them. The setting is wonderfully dark and fairy-taleish in a cartoon sort of way, but not in a bad cartoon sort of way. The mood ranges from tragedy to slapstick to satire to tender to casually horrific.
This may be heresy, but I felt the music was the weakest part of the performance. Not that it wasn't well done (and here I'm not talking about the singing -- the performances were all fabulous), but I'm old-fashioned enough to think that one ought to walk out of a musical compulsively humming at least one of the songs. The two songs that most stuck with me in terms of impressions were the duet of the princes (which had the entire movie theater giggling madly) and the witch's final song "The Last Midnight" (or something like that). But an hour later, I couldn't for the life of me remember the lyrics or tunes, just that I'd liked them in the moment.
I loved all the casting choices. Mind you, I'd be enthralled by Meryl Streep reading a phone book, but that's not what I mean in this case. The "big name" actors inhabited their parts solidly (which is a nice change from the movies where Johnny Depp is clearly Johnny Depp playing a role) and the less familiar faces were so similarly solid I was surprised not to recognize their names when the credits rolled.
And speaking of roles: do you realize what a breath of fresh air it is for a movie to have the number and range of female roles that Into the Woods has? I counted: of the 15 "first billed" roles in IMDB, 10 are for women, and of those 4 are for "older women" (with three of them played by over-50 actresses). (I also want to give a special shout-out to Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood. Get that girl more roles!) We're in very solid Bechdel-passing territory here, and the tropes and themes are so solidly female-friendly that I'll forgive the one instance of "sexual transgression = death but only for the female partner". The primary characters are complex and unexpected and the resolution satisfying in its themes of taking responsibility for your own fate and personal support that cuts across traditional structures.
If you want an enjoyable movie that is very different from standard Hollywood fare, check it out.
For those even less familiar with this work than I was, it's the tale of a likable but unfortunate couple who get caught in the middle of a web of fairy tale plot-thread and must work their way through to get the Mcguffins to the witch in order to break the curse she's laid on them. The setting is wonderfully dark and fairy-taleish in a cartoon sort of way, but not in a bad cartoon sort of way. The mood ranges from tragedy to slapstick to satire to tender to casually horrific.
This may be heresy, but I felt the music was the weakest part of the performance. Not that it wasn't well done (and here I'm not talking about the singing -- the performances were all fabulous), but I'm old-fashioned enough to think that one ought to walk out of a musical compulsively humming at least one of the songs. The two songs that most stuck with me in terms of impressions were the duet of the princes (which had the entire movie theater giggling madly) and the witch's final song "The Last Midnight" (or something like that). But an hour later, I couldn't for the life of me remember the lyrics or tunes, just that I'd liked them in the moment.
I loved all the casting choices. Mind you, I'd be enthralled by Meryl Streep reading a phone book, but that's not what I mean in this case. The "big name" actors inhabited their parts solidly (which is a nice change from the movies where Johnny Depp is clearly Johnny Depp playing a role) and the less familiar faces were so similarly solid I was surprised not to recognize their names when the credits rolled.
And speaking of roles: do you realize what a breath of fresh air it is for a movie to have the number and range of female roles that Into the Woods has? I counted: of the 15 "first billed" roles in IMDB, 10 are for women, and of those 4 are for "older women" (with three of them played by over-50 actresses). (I also want to give a special shout-out to Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood. Get that girl more roles!) We're in very solid Bechdel-passing territory here, and the tropes and themes are so solidly female-friendly that I'll forgive the one instance of "sexual transgression = death but only for the female partner". The primary characters are complex and unexpected and the resolution satisfying in its themes of taking responsibility for your own fate and personal support that cuts across traditional structures.
If you want an enjoyable movie that is very different from standard Hollywood fare, check it out.
