Not only does it operate like a rough prototype for 90s Australian gems like Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert-all huge tastemaking discoveries for me as a young film nerd-but it also plays like a jukebox musical adaptation of Cyndi Lauper’s landmark debut She’s So Unusual, one of the greatest pop albums of all time. In that respect, the 1980s new wave extravaganza Starstruck is perfectly suited for my movie musical tastes. When I think of movie musicals I do love- Rocky Horror, Velvet Goldmine, Hedwig, The Lure,etc.-they’re often the ones that indulge in the punk, glam, synthpop, and new wave musical tones I already listen to in my idle time. The singing-for-the-back-row emotional projection of most traditional, stagey musicals strikes me as a kind of false, strained earnestness that takes me out of the promised fantasy of the artform. The real reason I struggle with most musical theatre, though, is that I often just don’t care for its music. In his intro to London Road, Boomer mentioned a few reasons why the movie musical is a medium he struggles to connect with as an audience-its awkward rhyme schemes, its Declared Feelings, its emotional artificiality, etc.-a few of which I bristle at myself. Not only are the releases of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake threatening to dominate online film discourse all the way through next Oscars season, but we also recently discussed the grim, reality-grounded stage musical London Road as a Movie of the Month selection.
This month Brandon made Hanna, Boomer, and Britneewatch Starstruck (1982).īrandon: I’ve been thinking a lot about movie musicals lately.
Every month one of us makes the rest of the crew watch a movie they’ve never seen before and we discuss it afterwards.
0 kommentar(er)
