Hello again everyone!
Can you believe it's already August? Winter is right around the corner! I'm sorry, I won't say the "w" word again. We still have a few months in between then and now so let's just enjoy the weather we have while we have it. With the new month comes our final two Shakespeare films. We've had Comedies, we've had Histories and now we get to my favorite (and possibly what the Bard was best known for), Tragedies. Our last two films are
Coriolanus and
Macbeth.
Thursday, August 16th at 6:15pm- Coriolanus
Coriolanus is a 2011 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, written by John Logan and directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes who plays the titular character. This is Fiennes' directorial debut. It also stars Gerard Butler, Lubna Azabal, and Ashraf Barhom, with Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, James Nesbit and Vanessa Redgrave. Although the film is not explicit about its contemporary Eastern European setting, a title card states the film is set in "A Place Calling Itself Rome". It was filmed in Serbia, Montenegro and the UK. The film currently holds a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 3.5/4 stars saying this in his review, "The point with Shakespeare is the language. Modern dress productions of his plays are common and can inspire intriguing viewpoints. Who is to say that "Coriolanus" might not as well be set in the Middle East as in Rome-neither a place Shakespeare had ever seen? Finnes, an actor who can remake himself, is here lean and muscular, his head shaven, his neck a muscular trunk displaying a dragon tattoo. He carries an M4-16 Is this Shakespeare's hero? Did Shakespeare envision Coriolanus in Greco-Roman draperies? I imagine him alone in a room, writing by candlelight, intoxicated by language. For him, Coriolanus was the name of the speaker of his words. One of the pleasures of Finnes' film is that the screenplay by John Logan makes room for as much of Shakespeare's language as possible. I would have enjoyed even more, because such actor as Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox let the words roll trippingly off the tongue. I admired the movie even though I found it neither fish nor fowl. As Shakespeare, it has too much action footage, and as action, it has too much Shakespeare. I suppose the action is the price Fiennes had to pay to do the Shakespeare, because a film this expensive must appeal to the masses. What's the question Shakespeare has Coriolanus ask about public opinion? "What's the matter, you dissentious rogues/That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion/Make yourselves scabs?"
Thursday, August 23rd at 6:15pm- Macbeth
Macbeth is a 2015 British-French film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. The film was directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay adapted by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso, and Michael Lesslie. It stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and received generally positive reviews from film critics who praised Fassbender's performance, as well as those of the res of the cast, the visual style, the script, the direction and the war sequences. It currently holds an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Christy Lemire, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave it 3/4 stars saying this in her review, "Australian director Justin Kurzel tackles "Macbeth" with a few narrative tweaks and a whole lot of visceral violence. His film is just devastatingly gorgeous to look at-with a climax soaked in a fiery red that suggest "Macbeth" on Mars. And although he's maintained the crucial supernatural elements of "The Scottish Play", as it's known superstitiously, Kurzel also wallows in the grit and muck, which gives his film a texture and an immediacy. This "Macbeth" also grabs you with the charismatic presence of its two stars, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Fassbender has made a career out of playing complicated, tormented figures and the murder and madness of Macbeth are his bread and butter. Still, the danger that lurks beneath his lean, cool good looks gives his Macbeth an especially unsettling air. Cotillard, meanwhile, has an otherworldly quality that makes her menacing-a quiet intensity in those enormous eyes and a standoffishness that makes her seem unpredictable, even though we're all too aware of the devious plot her Lady Macbeth has in store."
I hope you all can make it out to two more wonderful films!
