Just when it seemed impossible for Anna Kendrick to steal another space in your heart (or loins), she’s gone and done it again! The actress’s phenomenal singing talent, twinned with her unshakable cuteness, has made her the go-to gal for musicals. First seen bellowing half-naked in the shower in Pitch Perfect, she’s since completed work on Rob Marshall’s musical Into The Woods and her latest, The Last 5 Years looks set to showcase her vocal stylings even further.
Directed by Richard LaGravenese, the man behind P.S. I Love You, and adapted from Jason Robert Brown’s off-Broadway play, the movie experiments with its narrative style. Charting the five-year relationship of married couple, Cathy (Kendrick) and Jaime (Jeremy Jordan), the film splits into two stories. Her side of the relationship is told backwards from the end, and his is told from the start. The two threads meet in the middle at the moment he proposes. Most of the dialogue is imparted through song – it’s a proper musical – with both leads recording their own parts.
Following on from last week’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, EW have released a clip from the movie – one that’s guaranteed to make your heart flutter a smidgen. In the brief scene, Kendrick’s character Cathy serenades her husband while he’s driving. And he doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest that their chance of off-roading into a ditch has skyrocketed. Mind you, we can’t exactly blame him, as her song strays into a spot of undressing.
Reviews from the festival have so far been mixed-to-positive, but our very own Sam Woolf gave the film 4/5 and praised Kendrick’s performance.
The Last 5 Years is scheduled to open on February 14th 2015. Yes, that’s Valentine’s Day.
