Breaking Emotions Blogathon: Tears & Surprise

Its the second week at Mettel Ray’s Breaking Emotions blogathon. Click on the banner above to check it out! Last week, it was Fear & Awkward.  I chose to do one emotion and showcased 5 awkward scenes.  If you’d like to check out that post, its right HERE! This week, our mission is to break Tears (aka sadness) and Surprise. For all the instructions and other entries, head over HERE.  Join in if you have some scenes to share, it’ll be lots of fun!

Initially, I had thought about doing only one emotion because I’m a sap and I cry at everything, but then I thought about it a bit deeper and dug deep in my mind to find scenes where I cry repeatedly, like the scene shows up and the waterworks start immediately.  These days, nothing really gets me as much as it used to (but thats also because I’m avoiding dramas in general).  However, the ones that made me shed tears or downright bawl were only a select few.

1) Les Miserables ending scene

A lot of people would say that Fantine’s solo I Dreamed a Dream would be the most emotional.  I’m not saying it isn’t.  I bawled for a good part of Les Miserables.  However, the part that touched me the most of was the ending scene.  Jean Valjean’s part where he has to reveal himself. To me, Jean Valjean’s story is a sad one and the ending he met may be a form of release for him but at the same time, his character is one that tugs at my heartstrings and makes me cry every single time.

2) 2 Young – Parent’s heart felt words

2 Young is a 2005 Hong Kong movie that I like a lot.  I reviewed it a month or two ago (you can find it HERE). As much as this movie is about a sweet young love and their struggles, its also brings in the parents and how they are coping with it.  Thats what makes this drama so good.  This scene is touching because one, we have an amazing actor in Eric Tsang being the father.  He expresses his sadness because of his failure to be a good father and a good husband because he couldn’t stop his son from going down his own path and in turn, not being able to make better choices for his life.  The scene by itself probably doesn’t mean much but to fully grasp it, you have to really watch the whole thing, which I urge you to do.

3) Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog -> Saying Goodbye

I watched Quill almost 10 years ago.  Quill is a Japanese story about the life of a guide dog called Quill: the bonds he builds in his training, his career and then till the very end.  I’m an animal lover so when you give me a story about the life of a dog and as a pet owner, I understand the pain of parting of them more than anything.  Hell, I’m still grieving over my last dog and its been recently 2 years.  This scene up there makes me burst into tears in buckets.  I was rewatching a part of the movie last night on YouTube and I was getting all teary even when seeing it in snippets.

Thats it for now, I had a few choices to make but one thing this did do was remind me of a lot of movies that I haven’t seen in a long time.  Another one that is kind of honorable mention was My Sister’s Keeper.  That movie was not a great adaptation of the novel but there was a few parts that was really tear-jerking,  at least for me.  Lets wrap this one up and move on to the next emotion!

Surprise is one that I don’t really want to go too much in depth about and struggled with whether I should do it.  Why? Because if it was a plot twist, I wouldn’t want to reveal it to all of you, thats in spoiler territory.  So instead of videos, I’ll just brush the surface on movies that surprised me the most when I first saw it. Not to mention there is only a very little amount of movies that I haven’t predicted the twist in advance to some degree.  An overactive and analytical mind will do that to you.  Lets give it a shot though.  Lets try and break SURPRISE!

1) The Mist – ending scene

I’ve heard lots of people praise The Mist and its “amazing” ending.  Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the movie because of the ending but it is also one that surprised me the most.  I never saw that coming at all! This may be an adaptation from a Stephen King novel (it is, right?) but I haven’t read any of them. Shocking and surprising, I know, I need to get to it.  Still, that ending knocked me out and I was like WTF?!?!?!?

2) Re-cycle – plot twist

Re-cycle is an Asian horror flick by the Pang brothers that I adore.  I’m a huge fan of their movies especially after my favorite horror flick, The Eye.  As much as this movie is going to give you a ripoff of Silent Hill at the beginning sort of vibe, the movie turns out to have this amazing twist.  I really don’t want to reveal it.  All I have to say is that the world’s meaning turns into something else and the scene where it all explains it really gives it a huge boost.  I couldn’t find even an obscure scene of the surprise moment I’d say this scene kind of links to it a bit. The clever build-up for the big reveal really makes this one of the most surprising moments (for me) till today. Obviously, I still have a lot of catching up to do, especially in terms of classics but this one definitely qualifies.

3) The Cabin in the Woods

I went into The Cabin in the Woods knowing absolutely nothing so the ending is a shocking one that kind of gives the movie a purpose.  I don’t even know what I’m being all secretive, I’m sure most of you (if not all) have seen this movie.  Granted, I thought it was an absurd twist in a certain way but does give it this lasting memory in my mind.  My reaction to the ending, “Excuse me? Are you for reals?!?!?!?!?” Thats better than my boyfriend’s standing up and walking away calling it stupid.  I have to revisit this movie since I’ve gained this immense praise for Joss Whedon but still, it was quite the creative thought.  I gotta give the movie that much.  It definitely surprised the hell out of me.  

Its funny how my list is all horror movies.  LOL! What can I say? I’d put thrillers but I can see people pounding me for giving away those big twists even more.  Plus, a lot of thrillers, I really do have it figured out before the big reveal, I blame it on overuse of foreshadowing (or just bad promo work).  Either way, I’ve learnt better. The ones above, I watched them without knowing anything in advance.  Just to make it clear, since we’re looking at movie scenes, we’re talking about ending scenes for The Mist and

Here we go! Another week of Breaking Emotions blogathon! Remember to click on the banner or the link to check out other entries or get information to join in. 🙂

Les Miserables (2012)

Director: Tom Hooper

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Raymayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit

Les Miserables is a Broadway based on the famous book by Victor Hugo with the same name.  It has gone on for over 25+ years on stage and is renowned. This movie is an adaptation of that Broadway led by the producer of Cameron Mackintosh who is also the one who put it all together on stage.  I will give you a general plot summary in case you are unfamiliar with it.  Les Miserables is about the life of a man called Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman).  He was convicted because he stole some bread for his sister’s dying child and after that trying to escape, he ended up staying as a slave in jail for 19 years.  When he gets his parole by Javert (Russell Crowe), that is where his story starts.  Valjean is angry at the world and of the prejudice and discrimination he gets because of his convict.  The cause is poverty and when the priest welcomes him, he steals his silver and runs away.  When he is caught, the priest defend him and say that he gave it to him as gifts and gets rid of the police.  He then asks him to use the silver well and become an honest man.  Flashing forward eight years later, we see that he now is the mayor and is known around the town. He lets go of Fantine (Anne Hathaway) accidentally and then leads up to her falling deeper and deeper.  In regret, he saves her and promises to take care of her daughter, Cosette.  At this time, Javert has entered into the town as the police.  He learns of Valjean’s identity and then pursues him to bring him back to the law.  Valjean quickly escapes and runs to save Cosette from the innkeeper (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter).  After he escapes from town, we flash forward to another nine years later and they are at the brink of a French Revolution.  General Lamarque, who stands up for the people is on his deathbed and the people are getting ready to rebel lead by Enroljas (Aaron Tveit) and Marius (Eddie Raymayne).  We also see that Valjean and a grown up Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) has returned.  Through this, we get the love story that comes alive with Cosette and Marius.  We also see Eponine (Samantha Barks), who has a crush on Marius and is the innkeepers’ daughter and she helps.  Its here that the French Revolution happens and Valjean decides to help out in hopes to protect Marius. Long plot summary, I know but it was the only way that I could bring everyone into the picture.

Let me first by saying that out of the few 2012 movies I did see and I saw some really high expectation ones, this one is my film of the year for 2012.  Its not because I do love the Broadway and the music to bits.  The story is fantastic.  I had my doubts about this movie even though I was pretty hyped up about it.  Knowing the musical itself very well, this could have easily bombed, as most musicals adapted into movies turn out.  This one had wonderful voices to support it.  Thats one of the most important parts because it is ALL singing.  The dialogue is sang just like the original musical.  Now that we are on music and vocals.  If I was to treat this as a standalone film, its perfect.  However, I do know the actual musical, there was a few issues with casting.  Russell Crowe has a beautiful voice but I didn’t think it was strong enough for the role of Javert, but since he nailed the last solo song that he performed, I let it pass.  Hugh Jackman really made the role his own.  The BEST role was Fantine as she was captivating and just pulled at my heartstrings.  However, if I was to put a weak link, I’d say it would be Amanda Seyfried.  She has a very sweet voice and she did a pretty good job as Cosette but her voice wasn’t as high so it turned a bit shaky and that bothered me a bit.  I was extremely shocked by Eddie Raymayne.  That guy is a wonderful actor and has an amazing voice and just his expressions when he did his solo was just amazing.  I’d also like to give special mention to Samantha Barks, as she is a really awesome Eponine.  She also played this role for the 25th anniversary in concert performance and she was fantastic in that as well.  I’d really like to see her in more movies because she makes a pretty good actress.  Another special mention is to the priest who did the role of Jean Valjean in the 10th anniversary musical.  Although, I think Jackman got some pointers from him on being a good Valjean because there are similarities in the way  he expresses it.  I wonder if that did happen.

Another thing that a lot of people seemed to criticize was the close up shooting of the characters.  I actually thought that it did add to the movie experience because above all, this is a musical and a lot of the acting is in how they express themselves in their faces and perhaps less their movements.  I can tell how it could be bothersome at times, but nothing beat the biggest thing that is unique to my movie experience and thats French subtitles for the lyrics flashing at the bottom which cut off part of the performer’s face because of the close-up.  It comes with the territory though, so what can I say? It was something I had to live with.

Another mention has to go out that this is produced by Cameron Mackintosh who is the one who put together the musical in the first place.  To me, he is renowned for putting together successful musicals and seeing him being the producer of this already gave it so much  more promise.  Very pleased with that!

It turned my New Year’s Eve into a slight cry fest because it was just so emotional.  To have me cry in public is not a easy thing to do, but I did because it was done so well.

This movie is a must-see because its probably the best musical that has been made so far.  I highly recommend it if you are into musicals.  If you aren’t, it might be harder for you to enjoy it.