Evita
Movie Review:
Yes
this Movie is beautifully shot. Yes the costumes are authentic.
Yes they stayed true to the stage musical.Yes they have
put a huge amount of effort into it. So whats wrong with
it then ?
Well
its because they have stuck so close to the musical. Movies
as we all know are a completely different medium to the
stage and must be handled in a completely different way.
There
is no dialogue in this Movie. EVERYTHING that is communicated
is by lyric's in a song to describe what is happening. This
makes it extremely hard to follow everything that is going
on in this Movie. Because you are concentrating so much
on the lyrics you tend to miss much of what is actually
happening on screen.
Now
on stage this is not a bad thing as songs can quite easily
be the central focus. But Cinema is different. When characters
talk on screen it is extremely easy for us to follow as
this is what people do best - chat. We do not follow lyrics
in the same way. Hands up evryone who has misheard a lyric
at some point.
What
would have imporved this Movie quite considerably is if
they had decided that, yes convert Evita to the screen but
we dont need every single song. Because it is a different
medium take the good bits and mix them in with what Cinema
does well. Some dialogue would have been necessary to help
give the Movie some balance.
There
have been many good musicals in the past, but haven't most
of them had at least some dialogue to add some variation
to the movie?
Personally
because I was concentrating I never felt involved in what
was happening on screen and shouldn't we always feel involved
in a Movie. I just felt completely cold about it.
The
story of Eva Peron is one that a great Movie could be made
out of, the source material is rich in content. Lets hope
that someone makes a Movie about her without so many songs.
Gary
Gray
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