The
Commitments (1991)
Director:
Alan Parker
Writers:
Roddy Doyle, Dick Clement
Genre: Musical
Rock of Ages (2012)
Director: Adam
Shankman
Writers: Justin Theroux,
Chris D’arienzo
Genre: Musical
These
films are both full of energy and drama, filled with excitement, a little
romance, and of course, music. The strange yet appealing thing about comparing these
two films is that although they were shot two decades apart, they revolved
around the same time in musical history. And although they are both centered
around the late 80’s, and early 90’s, it seems as if they are one hundred years
apart since the worlds of Los Angeles and Dublin, Ireland were pretty much
polar opposites. Rock of ages is more centrally focused on the story of two
lovers trying to make it in LA, while The Commitments is a story of a large
soul band trying to leave their mark on the music scene of Dublin, Ireland.
In
my opinion the musical has come a long way, and this is evident when comparing
ROA and The Commitments. When musicals first made It it to the big screen it
was an abstract idea to put musical renditions in between bits of dramatic or
comedic plots, and I felt that The commitments showed a much more scattered
scene selection and the music didn’t work as well to enhance the story as it
did in Rock of Ages, and other more modern musicals. The text even mentions how
awkward musicals seemed to audiences at first when it is said that “Because the
new medium of motion picture photography was closely associated with
documentation and thus, naturalism, the idea of otherwise realistic scenarios
suddenly interrupted by characters bursting into song didn’t seem to fit with
the movies”(Barsam98).
I
think both of the films fall under the theory of the Aesthetic approach. Like stated
above, the musical is a little bit odd and it is hard to make a character break
out in song and have it not disrupt the flow of the scene, and thus, it is more
about the aesthetics of everything rather than the technological aspect or feminist ideas, its truly about making something that looks and sounds enjoyable. Cinematics
and sound are of the highest priority when it comes to making these types of
films.
In
an article written by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Magazine, claims that The
commitments was entertaining but nothing to write home about. Traverse goes on
to say “The dozen unknowns he's chosen — ten with no previous acting credits —
make a joyful noise and rousing company. Parker, however, hasn't made much of a
movie”(traverse1). He goes along with what I had said before, and basically
says the film is sort of mish moshed. While Rock of ages caught the eye of the
same journalist. who said “It's near impossible not to rock along. No wonder
Rock of Ages is known on Broadway as "Mamma Mia! for metalheads."(traverse2)
He goes on to say how Rock of ages is also not the greatest accomplishment ever
in terms of a film but seems to have faired much better than the commitments.
Personally, I liked Rock of ages a
lot more than The Commitments. I feel that I am coming from a very biased place
as I loved the 80’s hair metal and really didn’t care too much for the soul of
Dublin, Ireland, but it is hard not to be biased when both films are equally
poor as far as plot goes. When it comes down to it I think the Commitments
could have won me over had it not been stacked against a movie that is more or
less inspired from a playlist on my ipod, but it still made its mark in musical
history and was enjoyable enough to be worth a watch.
References
Traverse, Peter.
Rolling Stone Magazine. Rock of Ages. 14, June, 2012
Traverse, Peter.
Rolling Stone Magazine. The commitments.28, August, 1991.
Barsam, Richard.
Monohan, Dave. Looking at Movies an introduction to film, third edition. copyright
2010
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