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Cabaret (Karaoke Hall) 1972
in the first season of "Glee" In the movie, I once sang a song Maybe This Time in this film, and I knew that "Karaoke" is a well-known musical. I took time out in the past two days, found resources, and quickly came down to take a look.
I didn't know anything about this movie before I saw it, but I thought it should have a good story. But after reading it, I realized that the story is very conventional, it is a love story between a man and a woman, and I am speechless. A young British man arrives in Berlin, Germany, before World War II, and meets a passionate American showgirl who dreams of becoming an actress. After a British youth and an American songstress dated for a while, the two fell in love. Then, the American showgirl met a handsome, high-spending German man. She dreamed of becoming an actress, obsessed with the wealth and status of this man, and had a relationship with her. Subsequently, the British youth, the American showgirl embarked on a short trip with a German man, and the two men also had a relationship without the American showgirl's knowledge. But after that, the German man abandoned both of them, he was just playing around. And the American showgirl also found out she was pregnant, but didn't know who her father was. After consideration, the two of them decided to marry their children. But the American singer, who was afraid of life changing, secretly had an abortion, and the British youth continued on their new journey. In addition, the film also interspersed with the rise of the Nazis during that period, the situation of the Jews, and the changes in German life, showing a side of German life before the war. In one sentence, the film describes a love affair of a British passer-by in Germany.
Looking at the whole film, in fact, this film should not be counted as a musical. Musical films often sing songs and perform songs and dances in the plot, without considering whether it is in line with the reality of life, and often sing while acting. All the songs and dances in this film were done on stage. Whenever the plot develops to a certain stage, the film is interspersed with a song performance to express the emotions of the characters and explain the plot. The song and dance of the film will not promote the development of the plot, but only the extension and sublimation of the plot of the film. I don't understand how other people understand it, and for me, it didn't make it into a musical.
There is really nothing new about this vulgar story routine in the movie. However, the film covers many elements, such as gold worshippers, true love and courage, marriage with children, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc., involving many aspects. The characters in the film often have a variety of personalities. For example, the American singer is a material girl who likes fantasy and wealth; the British youth is a bisexual who takes all men and women; German men betray their wives, have no principles, and spend money. , is a typical playboy; a pure Jewish girl represents a typical woman's traditional character, docile, noble, and kind; a Jewish man who hides his identity is for true love, giving everything, even at the risk of his life, to marry his beloved girl. Although the plot of the film is rotten enough, the characters are still relatively successful, full of flesh and blood.
The theme that the director wants to express is anti-war, anti-Nazi, and accusing the Germans of atrocities. What is special about this film is that the director expresses these ideas through a love story, and puts the perspective on Germany before World War II, so that the audience can get a glimpse of the social situation in Germany before the war and the situation of the Jews. Through the details of the film, you can fully appreciate the horror atmosphere at that time. For example, there are more and more Nazis in the tavern, passionate Nazi songs, more and more arrogant Nazis, etc. I won't go into details. In addition, the film also has its own interpretation of love, just like the ending of the story in this film, love is often imperfect, and not every beautiful love story has a perfect ending.
The film was released in 1972 and has not been released on Blu-ray so far, so I see it as a D9 converted format. For these reasons, the picture of the film is not exquisite and has a strong graininess, which is understandable considering that this is a film in the 1970s. Moreover, the film reflects Germany in the 1930s, so the picture looks very contemporary. To put it bluntly, it looks very old. I don't know if it was intentional by the director or because of the times, but the whole film gave me the feeling of an old movie. The modeling of the characters in the play is also different from Hollywood style, especially the actors on stage in the film, with clown faces painted and all kinds of strange uniforms, look funny. The scenery and costumes are also outdated. The men's clothes in the play are still handsome, but the women's clothes are not beautiful. All in all, the film gives me a gray and outdated feeling. Maybe the version I watched was too low-definition. I will watch it again when the digitally restored Blu-ray version comes out.
Since the movie has songs to be sung, let’s talk about the songs. However, the songs in this film are not my type, there is no catchy melody, no sweet voice, and no gorgeous dance. All in all, none of the songs impressed me. The only good song is the Maybe This Time cover of "Glee". Compared with the Glee version, Maybe This Time of this film is better than the film version of this film. Although the heroine's voice and singing skills are not as good as Glee's version, she is full of emotions and has a deeper understanding of the song. The emotional expression of this song is beyond the reach of the Glee version. As for the other songs in the film, their styles are very weird, I can't categorize them, and I can't appreciate these songs, but they explain the plot very well and vividly.
Finally, let's talk about the actors. The heroine Liza Minnelli is very impressive, not her acting skills, but her big watery eyes, which are too big! It is a bit terrifyingly large, and the area of the eyes takes up a large part of the face. Such a face, most people will never forget. As for the performance, she relied on this film to win the Oscar for Best Actress, which is the best proof, no need to say anything. The male protagonist, Michael York, looks very handsome and has good acting skills, but there is too little information on the Internet to know more about him. Marisa Berenson, the supporting actress in the play, is very beautiful and has a very good temperament, but she just looks like Helen Mirren. It seems that it is normal for Europeans and Americans to bump into the face.
Overall, it's a musical that isn't a musical, a cliché love story, exotic, and that's it. If it weren't for "Glee", I wouldn't watch it, and if you don't like musicals, don't watch it.
Serial: 0410
Cabaret.1972.D9.MiniSD-TLF
2011-06-21
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