The Last Five Years

 THE LAST FIVE YEARS

Director : Richard LaGravenese

Year : 2015

Genre : Musical

Rating : **1/2 

 

Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan sing their hearts out but to no avail in Richard LaGraveneses' ambitious but immensely flawed adaptation of Jason Robert Browns popular musical 'The Last Five Years'. Tracing the rise and collapse of a rather conventional relationship between a burgeoning actress and semi-successful author, 'The Last Five Years' carries the unique gimmick of a parallel narrative structure which, while distracting at first, does work.

Taking in turns to sing, it becomes clear very quickly that Kendricks scenes take place from the end of the relationship while Jordans musical numbers begin at the genesis of the romance - meaning that by the end credits the two story arcs meet perfectly in the middle at the point where the love inevitably dies. This unorthodox approach to storytelling may sound convoluted and overly artsy but when viewed as a whole, the end result is a surprisingly intriguing one.

Anna Kendrick as always delivers a strong and forthright performance, showing us once again that she is one of the most interesting and reliable actresses working in cinema with her powerful and beautiful voice proving to be more than a match for Browns sometimes complex melodies and rhythms. By her side is Broadway stalwart Jeremy Jordan who, despite not exhibiting any discernible acting talent certainly holds his own against Kendricks formidable screen presence and as a couple, the two make for a likable and believable centre. Even LaGravenese (who I am not usually a fan of) come out on top using a notably intrusive and personal directorial style to reflect the theatrical roots of the source, allowing us as the audience to empathise more with each development of the relationship, both good and bad. But while the acting, singing and direction are top notch, 'The Last Five Years' has one fatal flaw; the songs themselves.

 

Coming across as Stephen Sondheim if filtered through the corporate sludge of 'Glee', Jason Robert Browns instantly forgettable musical numbers really do drag 'The Last Five Years' down from a bittersweet romantic drama to an uninteresting and sometimes painfully awkward 90 minutes. In fact at times during my screening, I did find myself unconsciously wincing at the completely unsuitable placing of songs at plot points which simply do not require them as well as the numerous horrific attempts at 'comedy' which are thrown into the script like unfunny, mouldy croutons. Songs are fine when they are used to convey emotion or expand a characters persona but they are most certainly not fine when they are used to fill in a bit of time between scenes.

If 'The Last Five Years' had been a simple and conventional musical with six or seven tunes and had a more engaging story then the misgivings of the songs may not have been so noticeable. But when a film is almost completely dialogue-free bar a few choice spoken words here and there then it is incredibly hard not to be drawn to the attention of  the misgivings of the music and the poor writing of the lyrics. Kendrick and Jordan make 'The Last Five Years' watchable. The music makes it almost unlistenable.