LAST FIVE YEARS Movie Q&A---Ask Away!- Page 2

[442namffug]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:21pm

Yes, I imagine the timeline would be hard to follow a bit for someone not familiar with the show. I felt like the film could fill in the gaps of the show, but it doesn't.

Sherie plays a casting director for a show Anna is auditioning for. Very small brief cameo. Anna and Jeremy often sing to each other, but we occasionally drift off into this (very uneven) dream world where they two pass each other/sing to each other without the other person really being there. It's as clunky as it sounds.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:33pm

No idea why they wanted to make this into a film. I find this musical very dull unless you have perfect casting-Sherie/Norbert. They would have done better to film the revival and shopped it to PBS.

[442namffug]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:34pm

Correct.

[matttaylorr021]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:39pm

How do they let the audience know when the times change?

[442namffug]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:41pm

They don't. Subtle hair changes on Anna and plot points (engagement versus a big fight versus happy first time having sex). It all sort of bleeds together.

[matttaylorr021]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:54pm

What was your favorite song in the film?

[442namffug]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 9:25am

The Schmuel Song was probably the standout and packed a punch that was missing from the rest of the movie. Summer in Ohio was fun as well.

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 11:34am

Same orchestrations as the stage version?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 1:32pm

Advice to the distributor: cut it into chronological order. (It may not fix anything else about the picture, but the audience may forgive you for all that if you take this one small step.) I'm tired of this storytelling technique, and have been ever since I discovered Merrily We Roll Along. That opinion won't be popular with a lot of people. That's fine. If you want this to sell, tell a story people will understand without having any prior knowledge of the show. If it loses something from doing that in anybody's eyes, then we'll know it was meant to stay on stage. If it works as a film, then let's please not be so slavishly faithful in the future.

Updated On: 12/16/13 at 01:32 PM

Posted: 12/16/13 at 4:36pm

While presenting it in chronological order would definitely amp up the mass appeal and success possibility, might that defeat the purpose?

The thing that made the property worthwile to begin with was the novel stoytelling technique, rather than the plot or characters, so without that going for it it's sort of just another stereotypical bittersweet romance story with some catchy songs.

My question: did the film make Jamie any more likeable? He always seems like such an awful jerk in the stage play.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 4:38pm

Not to me. She seemed selfish, and not understanding of his career. She was pissed off that she wasn't as successful and still had to do ****ty theater in Ohio. I think she took that out on him.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 5:10pm

The thing that made the property worthwile to begin with was...

I'm gonna stop you right there. What made the property worthwhile to begin with had bugger-all to do with the actual content. That this was an independent film makes this only marginally less true. What made the property worthwhile to film was that it was a successful enough stage property that people might buy tickets to it. Period. End of report. This is always the case, has always been the case, will likely always be the case -- dollars and cents. Sure, someone involved might have a passion for the property, but they also like making their money back. (Witness Michael Butler and Hair; while he didn't do so well with the motion picture, he hand-waves the scant resemblance to the stage play because it made people curious about the play, yadda yadda.)

And for those who have never seen L5Y before and do even a modicum of research, the ticket purchase will be about the "based on the musical" tagline, so they can feel sophisticated in this world which increasingly cries for a veneer of sophistication without the actual experience.

Updated On: 12/16/13 at 05:10 PM

[thebeautyis3]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 5:14pm

For what it's worth, the reviews on tumblr are saying it was phenomenal. "Everything a contemporary movie musical should be." And twitter seemed to be all positive.

But I guess we should expect that after a family/friends screening?

Posted: 12/16/13 at 5:16pm

I was referring to the original reason for writing it, not the reason for it being filmed.

Although on second thought, stereotypical romance movies with much less substance are hugely successful, so my point is a bit pointless.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 5:23pm

Bums in seats, and dollars and cents. Repeat that mantra. With regard to your points, as the Two Thousand Year Old Man once said of the reputation of legendary figures, "I hate to smash them for you." It's okay. I'll owe you a drink when the movie's released.

[matttaylorr021]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 7:24pm

Taking out the interesting timeline concept, I believe, would draw people away from the movie if that was the route they went in. Seeing as this is an independent movie and will most likely not have a wide release, it is fans of the show who will make up most of the film's audience. If they changed that then people probably would be very upset because you are changing what made this show/story different.

I hope they represent the story's concept in the promotional material because that will make it stand out. I don't think people are going to want to see a movie musical about a couple whose relationship falls apart depressingly. The forward/reverse storyline is very interesting and a cool perspective to present this typical storyline in.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 7:45pm

The forward/reverse storyline is very interesting

It's more than interesting, THAT is the piece.

Taking that away would be like adding a plot to Cats.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/16/13 at 10:56pm

Not to me. She seemed selfish, and not understanding of his career. She was pissed off that she wasn't as successful and still had to do ****ty theater in Ohio. I think she took that out on him.

No, when things start getting a bit difficult for her and she's understandably upset, instead of responding in a validating way he complains that she's "bringing him down" and forces her to attend a party where he flirts with other women in front of her. Everything's always about Jamie, so Cathy can't possibly just want to stay home because she's sad, it has to be that she wants him to fail like she did.

Sorry, I HATE Jamie.

Updated On: 12/16/13 at 10:56 PM

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 10:05am

The Last 5 Years: The Oleanna of musicals.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 10:14am

"...the ticket purchase will be about the "based on the musical" tagline, so they can feel sophisticated in this world which increasingly cries for a veneer of sophistication without the actual experience."

Sing out. I find this show, like most of Brown's output, to be less sophisticated than a suburban prom.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 10:18am

I'm with you, newintown... with the exception of PARADE, which I believe you also give more credit (though with a few more qualifiers?).

[Parsley]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 10:52am

This is a musical that has never worked for me as a whole. The whole time reverse thing, while fairly fresh at the time, lost its impact rapidly on stage and got stale quickly for me. The times I have seen it it had the emotional impact of a typical Wildhorn show, but musically it really is a wonderful piece

[newintown]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 10:54am

Parade is his "best" work (although still not successful for me). I find the trouble with Parade is that Brown is attempting to be deeper, more "profound" than he's really able to pull off. It seemed clear to me that he was trying to imitate Guettel's work on Floyd Collins (and to a lesser degree, F&A's Ragtime). I find his musical and lyrical language to be stuck in a suburban adolescent's bedroom, lacking in depth and wit. Harsh, perhaps, and I hope Honeymoon in Vegas shows improvement (I can't imagine anything that would drag me into a musical of "Bridges of Madison Country," as dreary a piece of housewife fantasy lit as exists).

[musicalfool]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:12pm

I'm sorry, newintown, but that is just plain sexist and offensive.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/17/13 at 12:14pm

Oh, I think not, unless you're offended by the rather widely-used term "chick-lit" as well. (And you may be, who am I to say?)