This isn't about a concert. But, let's be honest, most of this is really just me talking about how music makes me feel. I'd like to talk about some music that made me feel things last year, music disguised as a movie: 'The Last Five Years'.
'The Last Five Years' is a movie I've recommended to everyone I've talked movies with in the last year. Based on an off-Broadway stage production, it's the story of Jamie and Cathy and their five year relationship. Jamie tells the story from the beginning to the end; Cathy tells the story from the end to the beginning, with one key intersecting point in the middle. It's a sparsely cast film, relying on Anna Kendrick (who I often say I would just... watch eat a salad or something) as Cathy and Jeremy Jordan (who, as I've noted before, I adore) as Jamie. Both performances are stunning. One review (and I wish I could remember where it was but google is failing me) noted that many actors can sing and many singers can act but Kendrick is one of the rarest; she can act while she's singing. I watched it on an airplane (essentially the only place I watch movies anymore) and openly wept. The raw emotion conveyed through the music is almost too much to handle.
The film opens with Cathy's ending; the divorce is so fresh that she removes her rings at the end of the song. This song is so powerfully delivered, Kendrick is all quiet intensity and confusion as she comes back to the central theme, "...and I'm still hurting." Towards the end of the song, she sings, "Jamie is over and where can I turn? Covered with scars I did nothing to earn. Maybe there's somewhere a lesson to learn." And, isn't that exactly how heartbreak feels? Both the lyrics and the delivery perfectly encapsulate that feeling of, "Well, oh shit, what am I supposed to do with myself now?"
Until you understand the structure of the show, it's a bit jarring to move from that to the start of their relationship from Jamie's perspective. 'Shiksa Goddess' is funny and most notable for the amazing chemistry between the two of them.
And then comes the heartbreak of the structure of this show, 'See I'm Smiling', happening just before the break-up, is Cathy trying her very best to convince herself and Jamie that everything is going to be okay. And Kendrick is so phenomenal here, through the first couple of verses you can see the wheels spinning, "He's here, we're laughing, we're going to be okay." Things take a turn for the worse and the last line of the song is, again, one that I've actually said a version of, on more than one occasion, "I swear to God, I'll never understand how you can stand there straight and tall and see I'm crying and not do anything at all."
On the Cathy side of the story, stand-outs include, 'A Part of That', where she chronicles her role as Jamie's muse; the viewer can see the seeds of discontent brewing as Cathy evaluates if she's okay with being genius-adjacent, though not the genius herself. 'A Summer in Ohio' is hilarious, pure musical theater camp, and gut wrenching because you know the blush of newlywed joy is going to wear off. 'Climbing Uphill' includes one of the best positive affirmations available, "I am a good person. I'm an attractive person. I am a talented person," as Cathy chronicles her woes at auditions.
'I Can Do Better Than That' has Cathy recount her pre-Jamie life and make comparisons to her high school friends, the thesis being that she wanted more than her small town, more than the lackluster romances of her youth. Shockingly, I could identify with this. This song guts me. Her message to Jamie is,
And, isn't that the dream, kind of? Not someone that you have to change, not someone you have to work on. Just someone who loves you, who will stay with you. Someone you could, literally, drown in... just for a little while. I mean, this sentiment is also part of what leads to their eventual demise; she's looking for validation, a reason for being, in him. And that's not sustainable. But, man, for just a minute, with Anna Kendrick adorably singing in a convertible while wearing a kicky head scarf, the hopeless romantic in me wants to believe.
On the Jamie side, Jordan is adorable and full of wunderkind genius in 'Moving Too Fast'. I've seen him do this live and it's thrilling. He does most of the heavy lifting in 'Next Ten Minutes', the start of the proposal/marriage cross-over sequence that marks the intersection of their stories. Lothario Jordan is funny and pretty slimy in 'A Miracle Would Happen', but you know that the miracle is not actually going to happen and he's going to succumb to the temptation.
Though not his final break-up song, Jamie's 'Nobody Needs to Know' is crushing in the same way as the opening number. You can see he knows it's just a matter of time and is grappling with his infidelity as his way of trying to deal with it, his way out. "I wrote a story and we changed the ending," is especially poignant given that we had earlier seen Cathy as his muse and her name on the dedication page of his first novel. He takes a similar solo walk through their shared home, visiting artifacts from their past. His last line is perhaps most telling, to one of his one night stands, "And since I have to be in love with someone, since I need to be in love with someone, maybe I could be in love with someone like you..."
This movie is about two people who are so deeply flawed and in spite of it fall in love. And kind of destroy each other. There are a not a lot of misses ('The Schmuel Song' goes on too long) and what hits hits hard and, perhaps, too close to home. This goes on a very short list of "my favorite movies of all time". Grab yourself some Kleenex and give it a watch?
'The Last Five Years' is a movie I've recommended to everyone I've talked movies with in the last year. Based on an off-Broadway stage production, it's the story of Jamie and Cathy and their five year relationship. Jamie tells the story from the beginning to the end; Cathy tells the story from the end to the beginning, with one key intersecting point in the middle. It's a sparsely cast film, relying on Anna Kendrick (who I often say I would just... watch eat a salad or something) as Cathy and Jeremy Jordan (who, as I've noted before, I adore) as Jamie. Both performances are stunning. One review (and I wish I could remember where it was but google is failing me) noted that many actors can sing and many singers can act but Kendrick is one of the rarest; she can act while she's singing. I watched it on an airplane (essentially the only place I watch movies anymore) and openly wept. The raw emotion conveyed through the music is almost too much to handle.
The film opens with Cathy's ending; the divorce is so fresh that she removes her rings at the end of the song. This song is so powerfully delivered, Kendrick is all quiet intensity and confusion as she comes back to the central theme, "...and I'm still hurting." Towards the end of the song, she sings, "Jamie is over and where can I turn? Covered with scars I did nothing to earn. Maybe there's somewhere a lesson to learn." And, isn't that exactly how heartbreak feels? Both the lyrics and the delivery perfectly encapsulate that feeling of, "Well, oh shit, what am I supposed to do with myself now?"
Until you understand the structure of the show, it's a bit jarring to move from that to the start of their relationship from Jamie's perspective. 'Shiksa Goddess' is funny and most notable for the amazing chemistry between the two of them.
And then comes the heartbreak of the structure of this show, 'See I'm Smiling', happening just before the break-up, is Cathy trying her very best to convince herself and Jamie that everything is going to be okay. And Kendrick is so phenomenal here, through the first couple of verses you can see the wheels spinning, "He's here, we're laughing, we're going to be okay." Things take a turn for the worse and the last line of the song is, again, one that I've actually said a version of, on more than one occasion, "I swear to God, I'll never understand how you can stand there straight and tall and see I'm crying and not do anything at all."
On the Cathy side of the story, stand-outs include, 'A Part of That', where she chronicles her role as Jamie's muse; the viewer can see the seeds of discontent brewing as Cathy evaluates if she's okay with being genius-adjacent, though not the genius herself. 'A Summer in Ohio' is hilarious, pure musical theater camp, and gut wrenching because you know the blush of newlywed joy is going to wear off. 'Climbing Uphill' includes one of the best positive affirmations available, "I am a good person. I'm an attractive person. I am a talented person," as Cathy chronicles her woes at auditions.
'I Can Do Better Than That' has Cathy recount her pre-Jamie life and make comparisons to her high school friends, the thesis being that she wanted more than her small town, more than the lackluster romances of her youth. Shockingly, I could identify with this. This song guts me. Her message to Jamie is,
"You don't have to get a haircut
You don't have to change your shoes
You don't have to like Duran Duran
Just love me
You don't have to put the seat down
You don't have to watch the news
You dont' have to learn to tango
You don't have to eat prosciutto
You don't have to change a thing
Just stay with me
I want you and you and nothing but you
Miles and piles of you"
And, isn't that the dream, kind of? Not someone that you have to change, not someone you have to work on. Just someone who loves you, who will stay with you. Someone you could, literally, drown in... just for a little while. I mean, this sentiment is also part of what leads to their eventual demise; she's looking for validation, a reason for being, in him. And that's not sustainable. But, man, for just a minute, with Anna Kendrick adorably singing in a convertible while wearing a kicky head scarf, the hopeless romantic in me wants to believe.
On the Jamie side, Jordan is adorable and full of wunderkind genius in 'Moving Too Fast'. I've seen him do this live and it's thrilling. He does most of the heavy lifting in 'Next Ten Minutes', the start of the proposal/marriage cross-over sequence that marks the intersection of their stories. Lothario Jordan is funny and pretty slimy in 'A Miracle Would Happen', but you know that the miracle is not actually going to happen and he's going to succumb to the temptation.
Though not his final break-up song, Jamie's 'Nobody Needs to Know' is crushing in the same way as the opening number. You can see he knows it's just a matter of time and is grappling with his infidelity as his way of trying to deal with it, his way out. "I wrote a story and we changed the ending," is especially poignant given that we had earlier seen Cathy as his muse and her name on the dedication page of his first novel. He takes a similar solo walk through their shared home, visiting artifacts from their past. His last line is perhaps most telling, to one of his one night stands, "And since I have to be in love with someone, since I need to be in love with someone, maybe I could be in love with someone like you..."
This movie is about two people who are so deeply flawed and in spite of it fall in love. And kind of destroy each other. There are a not a lot of misses ('The Schmuel Song' goes on too long) and what hits hits hard and, perhaps, too close to home. This goes on a very short list of "my favorite movies of all time". Grab yourself some Kleenex and give it a watch?
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