Movie Notes: Into the Woods (2015)
Into the Woods directed by Rob Marshall and starring Meryl Streep is based on a Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine which is a surrealistic and contemporary twist to the stories of some of our beloved Grimm Brother's fairy tales.
The arching story is that of the Baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt) who have learned that a witch (Meryl Streep) has put a curse of barrenness on them, making their dream of starting a family an unfulfilled wish. They were given a chance to have a child but they must first complete the ingredients the witch needs to break her own curse (which was the doing of the baker's father). The search has led them into the other fairy tale figures such as the Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) and the Big Bad Wolf (Johny Depp), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy) plus some dopey Princes.
In the point of view of someone who has not seen the original musical, I honestly loved it. The musical score and melody would not induce a last song syndrome like effect to make you hum after seeing the movie as Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals were, however, the lyrics of the words have subliminal deep underlying philosophies.
The end of Act I was the end of the happily ever after sequence where everyone got their wishes. By the end of Act II, everything starts to crumble for the characters, Cinderella still feels out of place, his prince cheats, the baker and his wife start to bicker and fight, Jack loses his mother, Rapunzel leaves the witch, Little Red Riding Hood was orphaned and a giant is terrorizing the kingdom.
It takes attention to notice that the piece in its very essence represents the ambivalence of life, of how truth is goddam complicated.Going into the woods was a nice metaphor of how the world is. We go into the woods with our dreams and wishes, armed with our prepackaged morals and pre-conceived ideas of the world. We go into the woods, sometimes hopeful, sometimes naive, but most of the time afraid of what would happen.
Towards the end, I came to realize that maybe the death of some of the characters were representations of who has yet to learn their lesson. The baker's wife died upon realizing that she has done something wrong by giving in to temptations and cheating on his husband for a prince, the witch by being selfish in choosing beauty over her powers and love. The remaining characters still have a lot to learn, like the Baker, on how to be a father, Jack and Red Riding Hood, on how to grapple with revenge, shortsightedness and falling into the trap of moral relativism.
As for the cast, Meryl Streep was amazing as always, from a Hobo looking (reminiscent of her character in Mamma Mia, only grittier) to an elegantly stunning witch (reminiscent of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada only this time stuck in the woods).
In general, the story is good as it provides insight on life and the complexity of truth and morality.
3/5 - Good Movie
"Sometimes people leave you. Halfway through the woods. Others may deceive you. You decide what's good. You decide alone"
"Someone is on your side. Someone else is not. While we're seeing our side. Maybe we forgot. They are not alone. No one is alone"
Photo Credits: Collider
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