I’m a fan of director Julie Taymor and I was interested in seeing another Shakespeare film by her, as I quite liked the underrated The Tempest (2010). I wasn’t familiar with the play Titus Andronicus, but I thought the story was pretty cool, as well as rather dark and twisted. I really enjoy Taymor’s visual style, and while not as grandiose as her subsequent films, it was definitely on display here. I also thought the deliberately anachronistic elements were nice. All the performances were good, and I especially enjoyed Alan Cumming. I thought it was great, overall.
Coriolanus isn’t one of the more famous Shakespeare plays, and I didn’t know anything about it before watching this adaptation. I found it pretty easy to follow though, even with the Shakespearean language. It’s really beautiful to listen to. I will admit though, that I did tune out a couple of times. Anyway, I thought it was pretty decent. The story was interesting enough. I liked the modern take on it and the setting seemed to work well enough. I thought the cast did a fantastic job. Especially Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave. Yeah, it was good. Not amazing. But good.
I haven’t read many Shakespeare plays, but Macbeth has always been my favourite. It’s a really great and dark story. This is Orson Welles’ adaptation of the play, in which he also plays the titular role. I thought it was great. The atmosphere and mood that he presented especially was fantastic. It’s hard for me not to sort of tune out Shakespearean language sometimes, but it was all delivered beautifully. It had been some 8 years or so since I’d actually read the play, but it all came back pretty soon. It’s the only adaptation of Macbeth I’ve really seen, but I’m prepared to declare it a brilliant one.
P365 Film #187
When I heard director Julie Taymor was doing an adaptation of The Tempest, I was excited because I really like her films Frida (2002) and especially Across the Universe (2007). I’d also read and studied the play a few years ago at university and liked it for the most part. This film hasn’t been received very well, but I quite liked it. Hearing Shakespeare’s language is always better than reading it. Some of it was really beautiful to listen to, but it was also sometimes difficult to hear exactly what they were saying. I always knew what was going on though. Taymor changed one of the main characters into a woman, played here by Helen Mirren. I think it works, and mostly because of Mirren. I was also really impressed by the performances of Djimon Hounsou and Ben Wishaw. Even Russell Brand wasn’t bad. Visually, it was so stunning and amazing, I thought. Great cinematography and colours and visual effects. The ending of the story is a bit disappointing, but everything up until that is fantastic. If you like Shakespeare, I think it’s worth a watch. If not, you probably wouldn’t like it much.
