Cabaret movie- Page 2

Posted: 5/7/05 at 5:28pm

To answer your question YES it is worth watching. Cabaret the movie and Cabaret on stage are VERY different shows and as much as I love the movie, when I rewatched it after seeing it on stage I was disappointed.

To enjoy the film, I think you REALLY have to be ready to read between the lines. A lot is unspoken and I've watched it with people who at the end, are completely non-plussed.

And Liza? Good god, I understand that people hate her, but this role, this performance is like a hurricane. In that documentary, they talk about Laurette Taylor being so real on stage you think she wandered in off the street: That's how Liza is in this film, except she's so eccentric, so mannered, so so so LIZA that it can throw you off for a while. I think Liza has BECOME Sally Bowles in a lot of ways. It's like she played this part so well she became it.

So go watch the movie and try to forget the stage version. I would love to see someone do a new film of Cabaret. It still has a lot to say!

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:09pm

i reckon they should re-make cabaret with the actual story. Instead of making sally's song show numbers do it like they did on Broadway.... i reckon it would be a smash!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:14pm

They should remake it with Alan Cumming.

I think that Liza was a trainwreck. Well, she was good in it - and sang well. But she completely missed who Sally is. But I can't blame her, the music was so happy during "Cabaret" - why?

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:16pm

well that's what i thought. I saw Cabaret on Broadway without knowing anything about it. Thought it was so dark and gritty, then i got the dvd and was shocked. It didn't really relate to the origional musical much at all. Plus the bit i really hated was how she sang maybe this time to the audience and with a smile. Just really took the struggle the character goes through away... really destroyed the character in a way!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:17pm

Thenadier, I think you completely missed the point of the show.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:20pm

No...I mean the orchestrations in the show were so much darker and nicer. I thought they were too flashy in the movie.

I didn't miss the point of the show. I just thought Cabaret seemed odd as the scenes before it were much darker.

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:20pm

sorry going off on a random tangent here.... i'm now a standby! I was an understudy yesterday.... perhaps i am posting too much!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:21pm

Liza missed Sally's inner suffering...

The movie was good apart from the musical.

Updated On: 5/7/05 at 06:21 PM

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:27pm

Strange at seems I actually agree with Thenadier here. (Sorry T, I usually agree with Munk) I just thought Liza's take on Sally was a little light. Especially "Caberet" I never bought her desperation, it always sounds to me like she is happy about being back in the caberet (which I am sure everyone will agree is not now the character usually is interpreted) Natasha Richardson's take in the revival just kills me every time, there is so much desperation there.
I adore the film though, it is one of my favorite movies and I think one of the best ever, I just think it loses a little with Liza.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:32pm

"...because the rest is so boring."

How Sally Bowles of you.

"the music was so happy during CABARET--why?"

Because it captures Sally's superficially brilliant yet essentially hollow, self-absorbed and morally bankrupt personality. Also, its "fascism as showbiz" metaphor aptly suggests a society blindly dancing on the edge of an abyss.
Updated On: 5/7/05 at 06:32 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:38pm

Liza was BRILLIANT as Sally. She perfectly captured someone who out the outside seems "fabulous" and perfect - but what's really going on is a lot darker and far more disturbing - just like the entire concept of CABARET.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:39pm

Are you saying I called the music to "Caberet" happy, because that was not what I meant at all. I was talking about the way she Liza looks and sounds in the film, which is too much, I understand the metaphor you are talking about but after all that Sally has gone through, she should (in my interpretation, which may not be Fosse's, but is THE REASON I personally did not like Liza's portrayal) have learned enough from her experiences to be affected by it. The song is superficial on the surface but the person singing it knows she has signed her death warrant by doing this, "so when I go, I'm going like Elsie!"
Of course I think the rest is fascinating and disagree just as much with those who think it boring. It is after all, all a matter of opinion. Which is what makes it fun to discuss.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:45pm

"..she should...have learned enough from her experiences to be affected by it."

But that's the whole point. Her denial and moral blind-eye to events in the play parallel the society around her and serve as a warning. Sally damns herself.
Updated On: 5/7/05 at 06:45 PM

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:53pm

I think I agree with you about Sally, for the most part. I just think Sally knows what is happening to her and thinks she can't stop it, whereas you think she remains totally blinded to what is coming.
I just don't think I agree about Liza actually pulling off this aspect of the character, either way. I'm not arguing anymore though, I think we have both stated the cases one way and the other. You make very valid points, like I said I just read it differently and would "like" it better if the character were played my way, which is not to say it would "be" better, just more to my taste.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 6:58pm

I liked her take on Cabaret!!!!!! Although, I kinda feel like Liza was kinda being herself and the same girl she was in The Sterile Cuckoo, but that's great, cause I loved it!!!!!!