shuffle off to Buff-a-lo!!!

Ahh... good stuff, even if you end up with that song in your head for weeks afterward.

Yeah, that human kaleidoscope stuff is groovy.

Seems like a lot of musical movies, just not traditional "Broadway musical" type flicks. Except for the movie remakes of "The Producers" and "Hairspray", which, oddly enough, were.

Via Merriam Webster: "a film or theatrical production typically of a sentimental or humorous nature that consists of musical numbers and dialogue based on a unifying plot."

There are countless musicals that don't have people break out into song. It's a common misconception, but yes, for instance, Once is a musical. The songs frame their love, they fit into the plot, they are sung onscreen, etc. etc. etc.

What these people try to desperately define as musicals are just one sub-genre of the main genre.

I'm going to keep saying this on the boards until people get it.

What people "ARE talking about" is a mistaken understanding of something broader.

To go into your examples, the films you mentioned, for the most part, do not have enough of the songs and dancing to qualify as musicals (such as the songs in "Cold Mountain" that have NOTHING to do with the plot) but that's where we're just splitting heirs. "Once" is about music, about the songs, about the lyrics, etc. etc. etc. You hit the nail on the head. They are part of the movie AND sung, therefore they make it up as a musical. Are you telling me that when the woman is walking down the street, alone, singing to herself, the only thing that makes it a movie about music instead of a musical is that she has headphones on?

And to be fair, I do not like all musicals. Just like any genre, ANY, there are good an bad. If you've been to this column often (which you have), you would know I absolutely DESPISE stuff like Rodgers & Hammerstein, family heartwarming stage bullshit, and especially have it out for the overblown and pretentious (and poorly scored) Les Miserables.

But you are right. If you like Once more calling it a drama, then that's your right. But if we're talking criticism and history, that's another thing.

But, once again, I think to say one doesn't like an entire genre is shortsighted and not in the true spirit of being a film connoisseur or all-encompassing film fan.

So I'm going to go with the "creators" of the film on this. Why didn't I use this earlier?

And I still think you confuse what I'm saying. A musical isn't defined by otherworldly aspects. It's defined by music and its connection to the story. So the headphone scene does indeed make it fit. I'm just saying that if one simply took the headphones off of her, that would make it a musical in your eyes? Just one little thing? I consider that elitist, which I know is not your intention. But "farfetched"? That's not what defines a musical. Tell that to Kander & Ebb.

Some Broadway musicals that you could consider not over-the-top, garish or vaudevillian: Closer. Spring Awakening. Cabaret. Jersey Boys. Passing Strange. 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Falsettos. Parade. Noise/Funk. Most Sondheim works. Hedwig (well, that is garish, but it is done as a concert, but it has a story, and is a musical). etc. etc. etc. You just have to know where to look if you don't like something like "The King & I" or "Hairspray." It's all out there.

And I'm from a metropolitan area and have lived in five other ones across this great nation. Still living in one, in fact. And I wish there were more musicals that spoke to our generation. That's why the recent winner of Best Musical, "In The Heights," is so fucking good.

I find it weird that the filmmakers who made "Once," who called it a musical, cannot sway your opinion of what the movie is, when they, the creators, say that it is a musical.

Fine, then I will start calling How Green Was My Valley science-fiction. Sheesh...

Why am I unable to use my apostrophe key? This is absurd, too!

btw, my video store has it under musical AND drama. But it's an independently run store staffed with well-paid workers who are required to have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of film and a well honed critical eye.

But I would say that a filmmaker's intention is the be all and end all of what a movie is intended to be, especially when they make their own special feature with the argument in question in the title. But that's just splitting heirs, starring Rick Moranis.

Except I'm right.

nananananananana

Great job. And House Of Sand And Fog is a romantic comedy.