Cabaret (1972)

 

Genre: Drama/ Musical

Time: 2h

Director: Bob Fosse

Quick Summary: A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

This is very unique I'll give it that. It's a musical that uses its songs more as little comments into the story than actual parts of the story. I liked them initially, but as the film went on I found them distracting and sometimes ruined moments for me. The songs themselves were usually really silly, and I enjoyed them. One is a song about a guy talking about the joys of living as a three-some couple. One thing I picked up on, was that most if not all commented on the rise of the nazi party since this film is set around that time in Germany. But What makes that interesting, is the story itself barely comments on the nazis, sure it shows little snippets of stuff to do with it, nazi characters exist within the shots but nobody interacts with them. They're spoken about plenty of times.  I wasn't sure If I liked how it approached that honestly, because some plot points, later on, seem very weak because of it. If they had got a bit more intensely with it, then maybe it would have worked more for me.

The songs themselves are really satirical and upbeat, with surprisingly really good choreography. Liza Minnelli was the standout of this film. She stole every scene with a great presence, her make-up being iconic and her voice being absolutely stunning. I do wish she had a few more songs by herself to show it off, the small pinch of songs she had being show stoppers. Something Liza is able to do is perfectly balance limitless self-confidence and vulnerability for her character. She is reckless and full of joy, but expresses deep amounts of loneliness and wishes to be loved. It's so interesting to watch a character like this on screen.

On the flip side, we have Micheal York who plays her love interest. He is reserved and relaxed. At first, he is strongly taken aback by her and finds her extremely brash and a bit too much. Eventually, he warms up to her but by the end, you realise he takes the relationship much more seriously than she did.

There were a few more things I did not like. For a start, it was a separate romance plot that didn't really have much to do with our main two. It was there to create character development for the two at separate times personally. A German man falls in love with a Jewish woman, and although they are deeply happy with each other the woman breaks it off because she is a jew in Germany at the time of the nazi party rise. Sure it's interesting enough and really emotional. Although it goes back to what I was saying earlier about how it wasn't intense enough with the nazi rise. The guy faces a moral dilemma which I did really want to watch develop, but it got resolved so quickly it was very anticlimactic. It felt like they just really wanted to tie that bit up as quick as possible.

The other thing was the introduction of a third person into their relationship. I won't spoil it too much, but it is so interesting to see this. Not much of it is shown in terms of development, you just get small snippets of the three hanging out and the implications of events. I felt some points were really weak because you didn't get to watch these moments that we missed out on. Both members of our main cast are secured by this person, but they all interact as a threesome. I was very confused about if they actually were all together, or split off into two separate. Plus an eventual falling out seems so brushed over, I was very disappointed.

The story is so simple, yet manages to be complex in the background. I do wish maybe they didn't have the musical numbers or maybe toned them down towards the end as the plot gets deeper, but I think that's what this film is trying to say. When things seem to be at their worst or speeding towards catastrophic events, have fun, and express joy when you can. 

7/10

"My God! It's enough to drive a girl into a convent! Do they have Jewish nuns?"

"Does it really matter so long as you're having fun?"

"Brian: Sally is rather knowledgeable in these areas.

Fritz: You do what Sally says, you end up I think in prison."