The Chorus (Les Choristes)
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Movie Reviews of The Chorus (Les Choristes)
Movie Review: A homage to music
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is one of the best to have appeared in recent years. In the tradition of Cinema Paradiso (and just as good), this movie has a flashback style plot. One of the greatest conductors of the world recalls his life in a school for boys with problems. The movie deals with the not-so-new theme of education in 1949 Europe: traditional exaggerated discipine versus love, and the importance of trust. The new part: the fullfilment of a man's frustrated musical dreams through the conduction of a boy's chorus.
The music?? Ah!! The music is so exquisite, it brings tears to your eyes. I bought the soundtrack as well and listen to it all the time, further appreciating the significance of the lyrics. The boy's voces are beautiful, as so are each and everyone of the characters. What differentiates this film from others which deal with the same theme (such as Mr Holland's Opus) is the director's excellence at making each and every one of the characters authentic and absolutely real. In the purest European cinematic tradition this movie deals with an ordinary theme making it extraordinary by means of excellent acting, casting and simplicity of plot: French cinema at its best! The bonus: the movie brings attention to the importance of musical education for the developmet of healthy children, and shows us once more how a correctly induced gift can end in a lifelong passion that will never make you lonely: music, music, music. He who has music needs nothing more.
Movie Review: Hopeful but not saccharine
Summary: 5 Stars
A beautiful film. Mathieu, describing himself as a failed musician, accepts a post as "prefect" of a school for troubled boys. Some have gotten into scrapes with the law but most are orphaned by the war.
Mathieu somehow manages to stay cheerful, although the boys disrespect him and the headmaster wants a sidekick who can share his belief in harsh discipline. Hearing the boys singing off-key, Mathieu decides to start a chorus. And he discovers that one boy has a rare talent.
The chorus doesn't transform anyone. The boys are still boys. But they enjoy the chorus and respond, grudgingly, to their new prefect's relaxed oversight
Chorus seems more poignant than Mr Holland's opus. There's no simple fairy tale ending and things do not always turn out right. In fact, there's a bittersweet irony when Morhange seems unable to acknowledge the huge debt he owes Mathieu.
The characters are multidimensional. As the film progresses, we gain insights into the headmaster's character and also an understanding of Mathieu's colleagues. The boys are shown even-handedly.
In my view, what makes the film special is the realism of the post-war setting and the location in rural France, accessible by an infrequent bus service. The scenes seemed bathed in a sunset haze. Watching was like turning the pages of a very old book, a little crumbly around the ages but still readable.
Movie Review: Angels with dirty faces . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
This gentle movie set in the French provinces in 1949 mixes a kind of postwar neorealism with a sentimental story about a choir master in a boys school, who wins the hearts and minds of an unruly band of delinquents and orphans. There's plenty of evidence from French cinema that boys schools were rough places and not really much different from reformatories. Here the amenties are few and the rules are many, and the school itself looks like it barely survived WWII.
Gérard Jugnot, a kind of sweetly tempered Wally Shawn, dubbed "Chrome Dome" from his first day on the job, delivers a lovingly nuanced performance of a teacher who understands how it's a mistake to make adversaries of students - they simply outnumber you - and to win them over by basically making deals with them, in which both of you have something to gain. He must play a careful balancing act between his own best instincts and the authoritarian headmaster, whose action-reaction school of discipline has all the boys seething with resentment and rebellion. But the boys find themselves drawn by curiosity into becoming a chorus, performing their teacher's own compositions. They finally triumph at a command performance before an aristocratic benefactor. Which is not to say all ends well, but anyone who has ever been a teacher will find much to recognize and celebrate in this charming film.
Movie Review: Sweet Musical Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Taking France by storm last year, Les Choristes is a sweet little film about the power of education and the role it truly plays in our lives.
Gérard Jugnot plays Clément Mathieu, a vagabond of sorts who jumps from job to job, never doing well in any of them. Somehow, he gets hired in a reform school for boys as the prefect. Within minutes, the boys challenge him and his authority, as they are used to be treated poorly by the adminstrator Rachin. Truly wanting to help the boys, Mathieu uses humor and song to reach the crowd, and in doing so, beings to transform the boys, particularly two that need him the most.
Whereas the film may be somewhat predictable and the story seemingly covered in Sister Act II (which this film resembles nothing of the sort!), it is still wonderfully rich and charming. The acting is superb, as our hero looks nothing like the traditional skinny, blond superstars that often pervade these types of films. The music is haunting and beautiful; who can resist the orchestrations of a boy's choir? And the film never panders to sentiment, nor is there a long build up to the conclusion. The film is swift, endearing, and heartwarming.
Often, educators leave indelible marks on our lives and in our hearts; this film is a celebration of that.
Movie Review: The 400 Blows from Boy's Town meets Mr. Holland's Opus
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to expect when "The Chorus" began. I could tell right away that we were going to get involved with a number of problem adolescents, an evil school master, and a idealistic music teacher. Even though we get the general idea (the title isn't hiding any surprizes either), the film's excellenece is in the telling of the story. We get some extreme personalities but most of the characters, adults and children, show both a good side and a bad side; strength and vulnerability. In the ebb and flo of the movie, we cheer the ups and bemoan the downs and each turn draws us deeper into the film. Along the way, we are treated to some excellent boy's choir music. My wife, overhearing it in the next room, thought it was awful and I was nuts (I think her idea of a boy's choir is the Parachuting Elvises). However, I did enjoy the clear quality of the choir.
After seeing a few old musicals from the past (many good in their own trite way) I was impressed to watch a movie that stood on it's own while finding the time to add high quality music as something more than just a break in the action. "The Chorus" is a movie that says a lot in a way that's easy to listen to.