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The soundtrack to the upcoming "Watchmen" film was released today and it features, no surprise here, "Hallelujah". He's along side other songwriting legends like Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel. Check it out!

Well, that's nice. My partner & I will be seeing this at the weekend. We're both very big fans of LC and waited years, but without much expectation,in hope of last year's UK tour before it came gloriously to pass. And she's been a major fan of Watchmen for many years too and, again, hoped without much expectation that one day it would make the big screen.

Maybe "Slumdog" got it right, and "it is written...."

The movie is great... it's completely different from other super-heroes movies, it's more for adults than teenagers.

For those not familiar with the work: "Watchmen" is one of the few (but growing) number of graphic novels to be considered "real literature" by much of the literary establishment. It is an excellent work. The movie (saw it today) is fairly true to the book and certainly worth watching (but far from perfect - at least 2 of the actors are quite poor, and some others just adequate).

The high-point of the movie for me was Leonard's version of Hallelujah being used during the only extended sex scene. It has always amazed me how many people miss "half the perfect world" of this song - the sensual half. It doesn't help that so many of the covers leave out a key verse (I remember when I moved in you... ...and every breath we drew was hallelujah), and also seem to avoid the sexual aspects of the song altogether. KD Lang's version strikes me as an especially vivid example of this "only half of hallelujah" phenomenon. She sings it wonderfully and with tremendous emotion, but there isn't even the barest hint that she understands that this song is about the spiritual and the sexual worlds - it seems purely spiritual to her.

So, it was very refreshing to see Leonard's own version (quite shortened), used during a the sex-scene. Unfortunately, the sex scene itself wasn't really all that great. It was far too "clinical" for me. It just seemed to lack passion.

OH, if you haven't read the book, please, please, read it before you see the movie! And remember that the illustrations in a graphic novel are part of "the text" - pay close attention to them.

Has anyone else seen Watchmen? I am conflicted about the usage of Cohen's songs in the film. I won't give anything away, I just want to know if I'm alone in feeling that the coinciding scenes cheapened his work. It just didn't work for me.

Your thoughts?

Director Zack Snyder explains his inclusion of "Hallelujah" into the movie's graphic love scene:

Crave Online: "What about the Leonard Cohen song?"

Zack Snyder: "There are two Leonard Cohen’s because there is a Leonard Cohen on the end titles as well. Hallelujah, that love scene, I originally had the Allison Crowe version of that song, a version I’ve always loved, but in the end was just too romantic. Everybody thought that I meant it. They thought the love scene was serious, not that it isn’t serious but her version was too sexy. So I was like yeah, I’ve got to go back to the Leonard Cohen. For me it is incredibly ironic, even with that version of the song it is incredibly ironic. I don’t care what version of Hallelujah is on, that love scene it is ridiculous, but in a great way. With Leonard Cohen it is like you can’t miss it now, can you? I’m sure some people will but that is fine."

http://www.craveonline.com/articles/fil ... chmen.html

I don't know what is the second Leonard Cohen song in the movie. Where I live, it's at least a few weeks before The Watchmen arrives.

Half the people in the theater had already walked out by the time this delicious surprise came on during the end-titles.
Don't miss it.

First We Take Manhattan

Yes, I agree with unkleevil. The end credits start out with some dreary, watered down tune by Blink Eye Blind...or Third 182...or some such nonsense, but the sequence eventually transforms into First We Take Manhattan. A far more appropriate usage compared to Hallelujah, used earlier in the sex scene.

To use Cohen's music for this scene truly is ironic. And if that was Snyder's objective, which he confirms is the case, then hooray for him. But to a fan like me, it just turns the tune into a cheap joke. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a pie in the face as much as the next guy, but Cohen's music is truth. Don't try to paint your own picture with the artist's brushes.

I loved the film, although I think this reaction owed much to seeing the comic brought so vividly to celluloid life. It's hard to judge what the experience would be like for someone who had little or no knowledge of the comic or the whole cultural phenomenon of which it was such a seminal part.

As for Hallelujah, if Snyder meant, as I suspect he did, to refer to the song's (and Cohen's) philosophy that a flawed human epiphany is wholly acceptable and perhaps the best we can achieve (Forget your perfect offering) then I think it was a perfectly justifiable choice. Whether this connection works, however, for people who don't know the song well, I'm not so sure.

David

I can see where you’re coming from, David. Truth be told, I think Snyder was pretty successful in making a film that is almost impossible to make. I also understand what he was trying to do in the scene…I just felt it fell a little flat. One would think the song a perfect fit, given the fact that Cohen himself is a master of irony (and has tackled the subject of impotence on more than one occasion). In fact, I’d bet the humor in the scene wasn’t lost on him.

What it really boils down to, I guess, is one person’s opinion. I’m glad people are pleasantly surprised by the film. Hell, I thought it was pretty good myself. It’s just that, to me, the scene and the song didn’t jive right.

I had never read the Watchmen comic so I didn't know what I was in for. Part of me loved the movie another was unsure - I will likely have to see it again to really fit myself into it - sort of like listening to a new Leonard Cohen album for the first time.

There was a group of people behind me - although a half hour early for the show, I was too late to get my favoured back row seating - who were obviously fans of the comic. When the sex scene came up they seemed joyfully ecstatic (it would be my guess by the response that they knew Leonard's work.) My own take was that it seemed appropriate to me, and I found humour in it, and irony.

I missed the ending credits and 'Manhattan' but I will make a point of renting the movie when it comes out on DVD. Until then, I won't recommend this movie to anyone who isn't into the genre or who hasn't got an open mind. It's like the flocks of people who went to see Blair Witch after it had won awards at the festivals. You really have to look at why it recieved the accolades and not assume that these wards means it is open to general consumption.

It's like all of us life-long Leonard fans who have always seen the humour in the darkness.

Vern

vern.silver wrote:
It's like all of us life-long Leonard fans who have always seen the humour in the darkness.

Vern

You are right, Vern, well said - and personally, I would not like to see it anywhere else really; for seeing it where it is light anyway seems of little consequence to me, it seems somehow too easy, straightforward, superficial and trite!
That said - do I want to go and see the "Watchman" movie? Not sure; I will probably wait for it to come out on DVD, too... So thanks for your helpful comments on what to expect!

piñata heart wrote:Yes, I agree with unkleevil. The end credits start out with some dreary, watered down tune by Blink Eye Blind...or Third 182...or some such nonsense, but the sequence eventually transforms into First We Take Manhattan. A far more appropriate usage compared to Hallelujah, used earlier in the sex scene.

To use Cohen's music for this scene truly is ironic. And if that was Snyder's objective, which he confirms is the case, then hooray for him. But to a fan like me, it just turns the tune into a cheap joke. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a pie in the face as much as the next guy, but Cohen's music is truth. Don't try to paint your own picture with the artist's brushes.

ha, that's the bastardized cover of desolation row.

I left before the end credits played through cause I didn't want to hear the aforementioned cover but I'm probably going to see this again tomorrow. Guess I'll stay till the end credits finish now.