LogFAQs > #933246359

23. Yentl

Karo: 8
KBM: 11
JONA: 19
Genny: 21
Inviso: 29
Johnbobb: 29
Scarlet: 29

Karo - So this is like Mulan, only instead of wanting to being a Chinese warrior she wants to be a Jewish scholar and so she dresses up like a man in order to pursue her dream of pointlessly arguing over arcane religious tracts from dawn to dusk. Fortunately, everyone at the school has ruined their eyes from staring at books too much so nobody notices their new student is Barbara Streisand with a short haircut.
She keeps up this facade until a series of events leads to her being married to the prettiest girl in town, an arrangement that somehow works out for a while because her new bride has the mental faculties of a 6 year old, but eventually people find out and because everyone is an intolerant sexist asshole she runs away to America.
It's a decent movie with some good music even if a lot of the scenarios seem pulled right out of a second rate school life anime, and while it entertains it is still nothing particularly special.

Score: 70/100

Best Song: 'Tomorrow Night'

KBM - Why I Chose It: Yentl began its 14-year-long production life in 1969, very soon after the release of Streisand's first film, Funny Girl. Based on Isaac Singer's short story Yentl and the Yeshiva Boy, and later also on Singer's 1975 Broadway play Yentl, the film's writer/director/producer/star Barbra Streisand spent years fighting studios and producers who considered the material too ethnic to be commercially viable, among many other problems. Once the film was finally made and released in 1983, it did receive praise, being named one of the Top 10 Films of 1983 by the National Board of Review, and winning Michel Legrand, and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar for Best Adaptation Score, as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture Musical or Comedy, and Best Director for Streisand, making her the first woman to win the latter award. However, the praise was far from unanimous, as the film also received multiple Razzie nominations: Worst Actor for Barbra, Worst Musical Score for Legrand and the Bergmans, and Worst Supporting Actress for Amy Irving who was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, making her one of only two actors to be nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie for the same performance.

My Thoughts: A film that truly toes the line between passion project and vanity project, largely depending on how charitably you view Barbra Streisand. For my part, the passion shines through a lot more brightly than the ego does. While definitely far from perfect, for me, this movie has enough beautiful moments to offset the duller ones. The sweeping Michel Legrand songs and score are utterly beautiful, especially Papa, Can You Hear Me and the closing quasi-reprise A Piece of Sky, and the story's rejection of traditional gender roles, is quite refreshing for a movie of its time. The cinematography is also great, bringing the early-1900s Polish setting to life and making the film really great to look at through some of its dryer patches (namely, when it goes too long without having Barbra sing something).

Favorite Song: A Piece of Sky

JONA - While Yentl has a fascinating life and journey, it doesnt really have anything spectacular. Also, I didnt think there was much chemistry between Yentl and Avigdor. The songs being Yentls thoughts is a neat concept, but the mixing of the songs and dialogue could have been better and the songs reveal too much. The movie is also too long.
Favorite Song: Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Papa, Can You Hear Me?

Genny - Papa, Can you Hear Me? was a really powerful solo. I realize it was representative of a different time, but other than that one song I found it challenging to connect to Yentl (both the character and movie as a whole) on an emotional level when she made so many questionable decisions in the name of love. Whether it was out of a love of knowledge or love of a man is not really relevant in the end.

Inviso - Oh Barbara. How did you go from two top-tier musicals in the first listto this boring garbage? Im sorry, but this was never gonna be a success to me. I mean, woman trying to succeed in a mans world, pulling a full Mulan? Fine. That COULD work. But lets have the overarching setting be the early 1900s in Eastern Europe, with a cast of characters whose main goal seems to be the discussion and debate of Hebraic texts. Riveting. This movie spends so much time on a main character who wants to be accepted as a woman in a mans world, not because she wants to do something interesting (like join the army of whatnot), but because shes not allowed to read, otherwise. Its so dull, and even the typical comedy of crossdressing offers little in the way of laughter. Barbara gets involved in a stupid love triangle as a result of boring traditions, and is forced to marry a woman. Now, in a NORMAL movie, this would be the climax. But no. The wedding comes and theres still nearly a goddamn HOUR left. Jesus Christ (pun intended), this was SO dull.

Johnbobb - I've really never been a fan of Barbara Streisand, and Yentl certainly didn't do anything to change that.
Favorite song: Papa Can You Hear Me?

Scarlet - Directed by Barbara Streisand, you probably will figure that fact fairly quickly in a movie where the entire affair is centered around Barbara being Barbara and doing Barbara things while other characters constantly ask where Barbara is and spend their time talking about Barbara and Barbara Barbara Barbara Barbara Barbara
Best Song: Papa Can You Hear Me?