Synopsis
Inspired by the imagination of Phineas Taylor Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Inspired by the imagination of Phineas Taylor Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
The life and work of Phineas Taylor Barnum get Broadway razzle-dazzle and sentiment in this occasionally rousing, visually smooth, emotionally diluted musical, set in nineteenth-century New York.
Phineas Taylor (Hugh Jackman), a tailor’s son, and Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams), a socialite’s daughter, are unlikely childhood friends who marry. They have two daughters and are poor and happy, but Phineas Taylor has big dreams, and he borrows and schemes to realize them. His circus displays human curiosities who are callously called freaks by his critics (including a snooty theatre reviewer, played by Paul Sparks) but whose humanity and dignity his show brings to light. The impresario’s confrontations with public hostility, financial difficulties, and romantic misunderstandings form the core of the plot, but another crucial strand involves his high-society business partner, the playwright Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), who defies his own family and the conventions of the time by pursuing a romantic relationship with one of the company’s trapeze artists, Anne Wheeler (Zendaya), a black woman. (What Anne’s brother, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, thinks of the relationship is never specified.) The director, Michael Gracey, delivers quick doses of excitement in splashy scenes but has little feel for the choreographic action, offers scant historical substance, and displays slender dramatic insight.
Barnum was a fascinating and complex individual, a man who championed abolitionism and served as a reasonably competent politician in his later years but made his fortune through schemes that mislead paying audiences about what he was displaying and exploited the physical difference of so-called “freaks.” He was a philanthropist who always insisted on making a buck off of his charitable works if possible, a huckster who was beloved by those who knew him well, a charlatan entertainer who tried to debunk spiritualists and others whose deceptions he considered morally worse than his own.
While it may not be strong on nuance and the story moves with all the careful pacing of a human cannonball, it’s got gusto and verve in abundance. An old-fashioned musical with a none-more-zeitgeisty songsheet, it may not be a flawless piece of storytelling, but it’s a pretty decent show.
ReplyDeleteThe film embraces its own humbuggery as the real Barnum did, thus it needs to be treated as the big gaudy musical it is, not a factual account. If you don’t think much about narrative logic, or the passage of time.
The lavish movie-musical about the 19th century showman and circus entrepreneur P. T. Barnum certainly could have told an interesting story.
ReplyDeleteBarnum was offering them a much better living than they could have received in any other way during that era and was much less cruel to them than many of their contemporaries. He was also undeniably exploiting their suffering for cash, and what the movie describes as a “celebration of humanity” was to many 19th century consumers an easy way to poke fun at and feel superior to men and women who could be “othered.”
This is a movie about Phineas Taylor Barnum. He is a great entertainers. He knew what would keep people coming, keep people talking, and keep them entertained. He was a master of marketing. He was able to market his entertainment ranging from Feejee Mermaid to opera singer Jenny Lind to various classes of society.
ReplyDeleteMovie has great tunes by Pasek & Paul. My favorite is "Never Enough".
It's a movie you can take the whole family and have good laugh, cry, stand up & clap.
While "The Greatest Showman" has its share of catchy songs and flashy visuals, the movie falls short in terms of historical accuracy and meaningful storytelling. The film glosses over the problematic aspects of P.T. Barnum's life and career, and instead presents a simplistic and sanitized version of events. Additionally, the characters are underdeveloped and the plot lacks depth and nuance. Overall, "The Greatest Showman" may be an entertaining spectacle, but it fails to deliver a truly compelling or thought-provoking cinematic experience.
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ReplyDeletethat's really excellent, keep up writing.