Cyrano; Grade: B
Cyrano tells a story about a strong courageous gentleman by the name of Cyrano (Peter Dinklage), though by appearance isn’t the strongest and most certainly not the biggest, however he makes his presence known by his toughness as he can take down ten fighting men as ease. Though Cyrano may appear tough and all, however he’s no match for one foe… Expressing is True Feelings for a Woman. Cyrano is in love with a woman named Roxanne (Haley Bennett), whom he has known for a good minute, as he’s terrified to confess his love for her. There was a request for Cyrano that Roxanne wanted to speak in private, as Cyrano had slight hope this would be the moment where Roxanne had the same feelings for him as well. Unfortunately for Cyrano… Roxanne expressed that she experienced love at first sight, with a handsome guard named Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Cyrano is willing to help Christian for the sake of making Roxanne happy, as he’ll not only try to set the pair up, but more so Cyrano will write love letters for Christian, as being a poet is a hidden talent of Cyrano.
My first day on vacation and already back to the theater… Only me. Thankfully this film was still playing, as I made my way to the theater on a nice cool Tuesday morning walk, accompanied by the best smoothie place in Vegas Grabba Green. I had no idea Cyrano was a musical, I looked at the poster as I felt it was going to be a typical period drama piece film. This is a film in which throughly entertained me, as I found this to be quite enjoyable despite it’s cheesiness.
Costume Design t’was fabulous as it makes clear sense why this film got an Oscar nomination for that category. It’s authentic and stylish to the setting of this film as it’s a main highlight of this film in general.
The story t’was adorable, I love the whole cheesiness of it all. Like at one hand you have a strong being whom is weak to the knees to confess his true feelings for a woman, on another hand you have a woman whom wants real love over financial security… Feels like I’m watching myself. Also really enjoyed Cyrano’s selflessness of actually trying to pair Roxanne and Christian, despite it’s not him who would be Roxanne’s lover. I feel Cyrano cared more about Roxanne’s happiness and well being, that if it isn’t Cyrano himself who is not loving her, it’s more than enough seeing that gorgeous smile on her face knowing she has secured love.
The humor in this film was also adorable, there are some genuine hilarious moments in this film. The best comedic moments most certainly have to involve around Christian’s incapability to express his love for Roxanne, like the letters Christian had written for him. Just the way Christian looks like a complete fool, as he can’t figure out how to say anything beyond “I Love You” t’was flat out hilarious, as her reactions to it as well was icing on the cake.
I really enjoyed all the performances in this film. I thought Peter Dinklage was lights out in this performance, he really resonated that strong yet vulnerable spirit of Cyrano. Haley Bennett t’was lovely in her performance as Roxanne, as she complimented not only the beauty on her outside appearance, but more so the beauty within her inside appearance as well. Kelvin Harrison Jr. continues to do tremendous work, as he delivers yet another really good performance as Christian.
The musical aspect of this film t’was surprising, as I throughly enjoyed the music in this film, as even I gotten into some musical moments as I was waving my hands back and forth. When the film started to introduced itself as a musical, I had my doubts as I immediately turned my head thinking “Oh it’s going to be one them obnoxious boring musicals”. But fortunately: I was surprised how I throughly enjoyed it all. It was a throughly relaxing experience I must say, the songs were beautifully written, they were sung really good by all the singers at hand. You can tell this musical had a fair amount of love and care to it, like it had a pure soul to it.
There are a couple flaws I have with this film. Though the moment between Roxanne and Christian’s first meeting is quite hilarious, however what follows after that certainly makes me scratch my head, by how dumb and naive Roxanne is. Like I can’t seem to believe how Roxanne is convinced that moments ago she knows Christian is a fraud behind these letters, yet out of the blue now he comes back a couple minutes later as an entirely different person, as he’s fed with romantic poetic lines coming from Cyrano. But not only that: How it’s displayed is ridiculous for me to believe that Roxanne is buying all of this. Like the way Christian is delivering these words you can clearly tell it’s been received by someone beside him, as the words don’t flow normally. Plus Christian disappearing and letting Cyrano talk for him… Like come on now, she can’t be this stupid?! One can make an argument that love can severely blind anyone as that is why Roxanne is so willing to believe all of this. However there are WAY too many clear and red flags, that even I can’t believe Roxanne doesn’t notice it at all.
There’s a particular important death that happens near the end, that I felt was handled poorly. Like the way he died it felt as if it was just a clear sacrifice, like no kidding he’s going to die he just ran onto the battle ground unarmed in clear daylight. The death should’ve left kind of an impact considering this is an important character and all, however I was left giggling… That really shouldn’t be happening. He at least could’ve fought with pride since he is a strong willed man, yet how the film goes about it he just died willingly like he just gave up… Very confusing choice here.
Overall, Cyrano t’was surprisingly a solid musical. I recommend checking this one out, especially for all dem hopeless romantics out there, this feels like a therapy session. -Mitch Smietana