The Last Five Years begins with an ending. Cathy (Anna Kendrick) is in her apartment, having just found out that her husband Jamie (Jeremy Jordan) has left her. It should probably be noted right away that the movie is an adaptation of a Broadway musical, as Cathy starts singing a really sad song that voices her situation: Jamie is gone, and he could be anywhere. Meanwhile, she's hurting. There is nothing particularly remarkable about the song; its sentiment is simple, and the lyrics aren't particularly poetic. And neither is there much to say about how the scene is shot. It is functional at best.
But the scene is gripping, anyway. It is immediately powerful and emotionally resonant, even though we know nothing yet about the character on screen. But the performance of the song is so astonishing that one can't help but be moved. And this describes much of what occurs in The Last Five Years. It benefits greatly from the strength of its central performance, the film essentially a showcase for the formidable talents of Anna Kendrick.
There is an interesting narrative conceit to this film. The story of this relationship is told backwards from Cathy's perspective, and forward from Jamie's. They switch off on songs, their stories meeting in the middle before heading in different directions. It's an interesting formalist exercise, with the shape of the narrative reflecting the story of their relationship. But ultimately, this conceit doesn't play out well on screen, the succession songs never really forming a solid emotional progression.
The movie never really matches the depth of feeling of its opening moments. The structure makes the story drag on, revisiting emotional beats without adding much to the overall picture. This might have worked better if the direction was more inspired, but the camera rarely achieves anything in this film that couldn't have been pulled off on the Broadway stage. The direction favors lengthy, medium wide shots that don't really provide much in the way of visual interest. It mostly puts the majority of the storytelling weight on the shoulders of the performances.
And this is where Anna Kendrick comes in. The real trick to Kendrick is that she has the incredible ability to act while singing. For most, those are separate tasks. For Kendrick, there is never any distance between the emotion of the music and the emotion of the character. She makes every scene in this movie better, and she is ultimately the reason to see it. Her co-star Jeremy Jordan mainly show his charisma in the more upbeat numbers. His limitations are revealed in the sadder songs, his acting just not cutting it, especially when put up against Kendrick.
The Last Five Years isn't actually very good as a piece of cinema overall. Like many Broadway adaptations, it doesn't do enough visually to make the musical work on screen. But sometimes there are performances so good that it becomes easy to ignore everything else. Anna Kendrick is just terrific in this movie, and any fan of hers or of good acting in general ought to see this picture. It is far from perfect, but with so much Kendrick on screen, it would be folly to write it off completely.
My Rating:
