to love another person is to see the face of God.

day two of exams period and i decide to go watch Les Miserables with my course mates. wonderful decision made. here's what i liked about the movie (SPOILERS ALERT) :

1. the cast (and assigned roles)

oh. my. Lord. the cast. i mean, i know to expect godliness from Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway and even Amanda Seyfried, then came in a few surprises like Russell Crowe with a really deep, resonating voice, who, in my opinion, played the conflicting Inspector Javert very very well! he was actually one of the characters who really drew me in, and i got really curious about the bit where he says he was born in the prison. i think he's actually the character i was intensely curious of, overall. 

then we have characters and actors who play these characters like Gavroche(played by the young Daniel Huttlestone, who is absolutely AMAZING and YES he deserves capitalization on ALL THOSE LETTERS), Enjolras as played by Aaron Tveit, who has a lovely surname and definitely a lovelier face. i believe he played the hot-blooded youngster very well, i really liked his spirit and leadership in the movie. also we have the actress who got the honour of singing the all-famous song, On My Own--Samantha Barks, who takes up the role of Eponine! Eponine was definitely my favorite character, aside from Javert and Gavroche, because i could relate to her so darn well (unrequited love? check check check check check.) and Eponine was just, ugh, such a beautiful character. beautiful with all her tragedy, her loss of opportunity (not being Cosette, the all-lucky one who got to get away with Jean Valjean, albeit living a life on the run, but let's not forget Cosette also ended up with Marius) and most of all, her death. although she finally had a tiny moment with Marius right before her death, i still cursed Marius in my mind throughout the entire movie for loving the oh-so-pretty Cosette. sigh. 

2. the cinematography

if you pay attention, it's not always you can see everything in the background of a scene unless the director/cinematographer WANTS you to. most of the times the camera focuses on the actors singing and just blurs out the background, which i find so beautiful, because at the moment when they are singing, especially solos, their faces are entirely focused on that you can see each and every freckle on their face. it just manages to give off such a realistic, a face-to-face, close-up feeling. it felt like a musical watched up-close, and that was an incredibly overwhelming emotion. definitely helped in heightening all emotions during a song.

3. the songs

OH THE GLORIOUS SINGING. Russel Crowe and Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway and Daniel Huttlestone and Samantha Barks and even Eddie Redmayne(who played the young, handsome Marius)! ALL OF THEIR SINGING. too good. the surprise? Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. my favorite villains! okay not exactly villains but ooooooooooooh they're just most entertaining to watch! i would watch the movie over and over again just for them. brilliant performers, i say! 

and i do love how each character or each particular scene has a set theme song specially made for them--a song for the slaves, the French Revolution, the lovers(Marius and Cosette), Jean Valjean and Javert, i really loved the idea of having your own theme song which resonated so clearly with the character's personality or relationships and interactions with other characters. too brilliant for words.

what i didn't really like :

1. Cosette

Cosette could've been more than just a pretty face, a lovely voice, a soul who crashed into Marius' soul, but instead she wasn't. she was just all of that and nothing more. Amanda Seyfried is a very wonderful singer (although i'm personally not fond of her high-pitched notes), but this character, as presented in the movie, seemed a little less. i won't blame anyone for this, because i think overall the movie is brilliant, and really this is the only thing i have real complaints about, as i hate to see beautiful actors such as Amanda Seyfried to only play a beautiful character. perhaps it seemed too typical for me, but i really didn't enjoy Cosette's character at all. 

all and all the movie was intensely GREAT. 

i would watch it again in the cinema. definitely.