Cyrano. (12A.)
Directed by Joe Wright.
Starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Monica Dolan, Bashir Saladuddin and Ben Mendelsohn. 124 mins.
This latest version of Edmond Rostand's classic 19th-century play ditches the big nose, which is like doing Richard III without the hump. In this version, it becomes the story of a small man who can rhyme like Shakespeare, woo like Casanova, fight like an army but can't carry a tune. The diktats of light entertainment decree that anything and everything must eventually be set to music and sprinkled with lyrics, but if you must make a musical of something surely it is your prerogative to populate it with people who can sing.
Making Cyrano a dwarf is a valid idea and though Dinklage is no Depardieu or Steve Martin (or Jose Ferrer, for those who know the 1950 Oscar winner) he is pretty fine See-ron-oh. If we are being picky I think he falls back on his puppy dog “wounded” look too much, but he is always watchable. He really, really can't sing though. I mean that not in the sense of an audition show contestant straining to hit the odd high note, but in the way you sound in the shower.
Why must they sing? Why must they dance? This is a perfectly acceptable mix and match version of Cyrano: French names; Mediterranean locations, English stock company filling all the supporting roles. All the big heartbreaking scenes – Cyrano hiding his hurt when his beloved Roxanne (Bennett) announces she loves some pretty boy soldier Christian (Harrison Jr); the balcony scene where Cyrano give Christian the lines to win her love – hit home. But every time it gets into its stride somebody strikes up the band and the cast plunge tunelessly into an unmemorable ditty. Hardly any of the cast sing well but what’s more frustrating is a sense that they probably could sing better if they’d had a few more takes.
It's hard to believe watching this that Joe Wright was once seen as another Sam Mendes. Right now he's miles off being handed a Bond film. Granted, he looks to have been working with a small to inadequate budget but, even so, a lot of this is badly staged. Take a scene where all the soldiers are dancing around in a seaside fort, twirling around like they are in some seaside variety show. It’s full of energy but achieves nothing.
This was originally due to come out over a month ago but Universal yanked it from the schedule at the very last minute over Covid fears. Now they are releasing at a time when all the adverts on the sides of buses have been taken down and prospective punters know that it's been largely unsuccessful in the awards nomination stakes. The original release date though would have been shortly after the festive season, a time traditionally spent watching classic movie musicals on telly. The difference between them and this is marked. In great musicals, dance routines communicate something to the audience, they are integrated into the narrative. Here, they are filler, a tiresome obligation. It’s like a terrible curse has been placed on the production, condemning the cast to perform a song and dance number every ten to fifteen minutes.
Directed by Joe Wright.
Starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Monica Dolan, Bashir Saladuddin and Ben Mendelsohn. 124 mins.
This latest version of Edmond Rostand's classic 19th-century play ditches the big nose, which is like doing Richard III without the hump. In this version, it becomes the story of a small man who can rhyme like Shakespeare, woo like Casanova, fight like an army but can't carry a tune. The diktats of light entertainment decree that anything and everything must eventually be set to music and sprinkled with lyrics, but if you must make a musical of something surely it is your prerogative to populate it with people who can sing.
Making Cyrano a dwarf is a valid idea and though Dinklage is no Depardieu or Steve Martin (or Jose Ferrer, for those who know the 1950 Oscar winner) he is pretty fine See-ron-oh. If we are being picky I think he falls back on his puppy dog “wounded” look too much, but he is always watchable. He really, really can't sing though. I mean that not in the sense of an audition show contestant straining to hit the odd high note, but in the way you sound in the shower.
Why must they sing? Why must they dance? This is a perfectly acceptable mix and match version of Cyrano: French names; Mediterranean locations, English stock company filling all the supporting roles. All the big heartbreaking scenes – Cyrano hiding his hurt when his beloved Roxanne (Bennett) announces she loves some pretty boy soldier Christian (Harrison Jr); the balcony scene where Cyrano give Christian the lines to win her love – hit home. But every time it gets into its stride somebody strikes up the band and the cast plunge tunelessly into an unmemorable ditty. Hardly any of the cast sing well but what’s more frustrating is a sense that they probably could sing better if they’d had a few more takes.
It's hard to believe watching this that Joe Wright was once seen as another Sam Mendes. Right now he's miles off being handed a Bond film. Granted, he looks to have been working with a small to inadequate budget but, even so, a lot of this is badly staged. Take a scene where all the soldiers are dancing around in a seaside fort, twirling around like they are in some seaside variety show. It’s full of energy but achieves nothing.
This was originally due to come out over a month ago but Universal yanked it from the schedule at the very last minute over Covid fears. Now they are releasing at a time when all the adverts on the sides of buses have been taken down and prospective punters know that it's been largely unsuccessful in the awards nomination stakes. The original release date though would have been shortly after the festive season, a time traditionally spent watching classic movie musicals on telly. The difference between them and this is marked. In great musicals, dance routines communicate something to the audience, they are integrated into the narrative. Here, they are filler, a tiresome obligation. It’s like a terrible curse has been placed on the production, condemning the cast to perform a song and dance number every ten to fifteen minutes.
