Music has always been present in our lives – and when it comes together with cinema, magic is created.
Since the transition from silent cinema to talkies, filmmakers around the world have shown an invaluable appreciation for musical narratives, finding a very interesting way to unite theater and sound in a unique experience that delights audiences to this day.
be with the classic ‘The Wizard of Oz’which eternalized Judy Garland in the role of Dorothy, until ‘In a Neighborhood of New York’which helped to build the extremely successful career of Lin-Manuel Miranda in the mainstream scenario, the musical titles that accompany us through life are countless.
With that in mind, the CinePOP prepared a very brief list with five productions of the genre that you need to check in HBO Max.
See our choices below and tell us which one is your favorite:
Enjoy watching:
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Even after nearly ninety years since its official release, people still continue to rediscover the undeniable magic of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. The feature film, directed by Victor Fleminghelped to leverage the importance of cinema as a medium and revolutionized the aesthetic-narrative process of the seventh art.
The plot, set in Kansas, follows Dorothy (Judy Garland), a young girl who lives on a farm with her uncles. When a tornado hits the region, she takes shelter indoors. The girl and her dog are carried by the cyclone and land in the land of Oz, falling on top of the Wicked Witch of the East and killing her. Dorothy is seen as a hero, but what she wants is to go back to Kansas. For that, she will need the help of the Mighty Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City. On the way, she will be threatened by the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), who blames Dorothy for her sister’s death, and will find three companions: a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) who wants to have a brain, a Tin Man (Jack Haley) who yearns for a heart and a cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) that needs courage. Will the Wizard of Oz be able to help them all?
THE FANTASTIC CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971)
Before Johnny Depp to embody the iconic chocolatier Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder made history with the first adaptation of the classic children’s novel ‘The fantastic chocolate factory’in Roald Dahl. Amazingly, the film was not a huge success at the time of release, becoming a cult classic decades later and being selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress.
The story centers on Charlie Bucket, (Peter Ostrum) a poor boy who finds one of the coveted “golden tickets” that entitle him to a lifetime shipment of Wonka chocolates, as well as getting to know the mysterious eponymous chocolate factory. He and four other children stroll through the place, but Willy Wonka (Wilder), the owner of the factory, is not a nice person but a manipulative figure. Children, while diving headlong into their desires, pay a price for it.
Few musical films have managed to overcome the impact caused by ‘Chicago’. Based on the 1975 play of the same name, the story explores themes such as celebrity, scandals, corruption and gender disparity and brings in the cast names such as Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere and Queen Latifah – in addition to having won nothing less than six Oscar statuettesincluding Best Picture.
In the plot, Velma (Zeta-Jones), the nightclub sensation, murders her philandering husband. So Billy Flyn (Gere), the smartest lawyer in Chicago, is chosen to defend her. Roxie singer Roxie (Zellweger) also ends up in prison for killing her boyfriend, and Billy also takes her case, turning everything into a media circus. Now, they are vying with each other for the top of stardom.
Contrary to all expectations, the third remake and fourth version of ‘A Star is Born’released in 2018, became one of the most acclaimed films of the past decade and allowed the legendary Lady Gaga consecrate herself as an actress to be feared – sharing the spotlight with the iconic Bradley Cooper. Winning eight Oscar nominations, the film took home the award for Best Original Song for the acclaimed track “Shallow”.
The plot revolves around Jackson Maine (Cooper), a singer at the height of fame. One day, after leaving a gig, he stops at a bar for a drink. There, Jackson meets Ally (Gaga), an insecure singer who makes a living working at a restaurant. He is enchanted by her and her talent. Later, the two end up getting married. At the same time that Ally rises to stardom, Jackson is going through a personal and professional crisis due to problems with alcohol. The opposite moments end up undermining the couple’s love relationship.
After taking over the world with the film version of ‘Hamilton’, Lin-Manuel Miranda was ready to take one more of his lauded pieces of music to the big screen – and, in this way, he allied himself with Jon M. Chu (‘Crazy Rich Asians’) to adapt ‘In a Neighborhood of New York’.
Starring names like Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera, the feature film tells the story of a neighborhood of Latino communities in New York City, known as Washington Heights. In these vibrant streets, everything always happens with lots of music and all the anxiety inherent in youth. From the protagonist Usnavi (Ramos), owner of a local grocery store, the story portrays a group of young people in search of their dreams and a better life, in addition to all the experiences and expectations of this intense period of life, in the effervescent city of New York.
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