Shakespeare

GWC Community Geek Hobbies
#21

I’ve only become familiar with it recently myself, as it’s been on rotation on Turner Classic Movies on American cable TV this month. It’s pretty darn phenomenal. And yes, you have to see Ran.

And check out Titus too. Not on the same league, as far as acting, at least, but the staging and design are fantastic (actually, on the acting side, I kind of like Angus McFadden as Andronicus’ oldest son and hey, it’s got a BSG connection as Colm Feore, who played president Adar on “Epiphanies”–and played Glen Gould in “32 Short Films About Glen Gould,” a highly underrated gem of a film which, IMO, gets the spirit of abstraction that surrounds all music right–plays Andronicus’ brother).

#22

I’ve seen Titus and enjoyed it very much.

#23

I love that I post the first reply to a thread on Shakespeare in a sci-fi forum, come back 12 hours later and have 3 pages’ worth of posts to read. You guys are amazing–the perfect antidote to the day from hell I’ve had.

I’d agree the Mel Gibson Hamlet is more accessible, and I just plain liked it more. Branagh’s was too pretentious (loved Robin Williams as Osric, though). Oddly enough, I’m not terribly fond of his Much Ado either. He was a little too liberal with his text-cutting, eliminating some really choice bits, and I felt there was some “stunt casting” that just didn’t work. (And what was with that Monty Python imaginary horse thing Michael Keaton was doing?)

Armando mentioned Dead Again. Yes, cheesy, but includes one of my favorite film moments that sends a chill up my spine every single time. Definitely worth a watch.

I loved, loved, loved Branagh’s Henry V. I have probably seen it over a hundred times. (I wrote a paper in grad school about the dramatist and director as revisionist historian.) Had to special order my vhs copy back in the days before videos were reasonably priced. Paid more than $100 for it. I think that film is about as perfect as it is possible to be. Even if the rest of it were craaap, it would still be worth the price of admission for the post-Agincourt sequence with Patrick Doyle’s inspired version of “Non Nobis, Domine” playing over it.

Damn, now I’m going to have to go watch it again.

#24

Yea, I tried watching it many years ago but I had a hard time making it through.
I had not thought about it in a while. I’ll have to break it out again. I think I’ll have better luck with it now that I am older and have a greater appreciation for such things. After all, Anthony Hopkins guarantees greatness. I’ll let you know how it goes.

#25

A little promotion for my favorite Hamlet movie:

I couldn’t find a trailer on youtube, but here’s the “to be or not to be” monologue:

//youtu.be/OM9UjZXex2E

Edit: I totally missed this the first half a dozen times I saw this, but did you see how it says “Action” on the little signs on the shelves while he’s pondering what to do? That’s cool!

#26

I’m sorry, I wasn’t very exact in what I said. I think my problem is that there are many times I have felt, when watching movies in this category, there are too many actors that focus to much on over dramatizing the role. Maybe like they are thinking that if they play in exactly right it will guarantee a Oscar. You’re right, it would definitely give you an advantage to act strictly based on the text, without any outside influence. What I like about Mel Gibson’s performance is the great comedy he brings to it. While Hamlet is a tragedy, the character is very sarcastic, sardonic and cynical. His quick responses to the other characters I find very humorous.

We all know there are may famous actors that really can’t act. Might make a interesting thread? I do think that the majority of best actors come from a theatrical background as opposed to the various other routes (i.e. TV,Singing,Looks,Lottery?)

#27

The Banquet - Ye Yan

This is probably better described as a martial arts film but does take some inspiration from Hamlet. It’s a great film with lots of action and is stunning visually, but probably not on the must see list of Shakespeare inspired films.

Youtube Trailer

#28

I think I’ve seen the The Banquet trailer somewhere before, I wouldn’t have known it had a Hamlet connection if I hadn’t googled the movie. It sounds like it’s focusing on the revenge plotline?

#29

Throne of Blood - Kumonosu jo

This film, like Ran, is another Arika Kurosawa masterpiece.
Simply put, Kurosawa is to film what Shakespeare is to the written word. This film features the legendary Toshiro Mifune. Mifune is hands down one of the most electrifying actors ever. These two made a superb combination.
Mifune’s death scene is outstanding and completely unforgettable. In a age without digital effects or even really special effects, it blew my mind.
Here is review for it that doesn’t spoil too much of the movie.

#30

claps hands and jumps up and down in excitement

I’ll parrot Lady D and say it’s so wonderful to find a Shakespeare thread on the GWC board!

I’ll also just add my unabashed adoration for Branagh’s Henry V. I think that was the first Shakespeare movie I ever saw, and it was love at first sight.

As for Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, I enjoyed it, but poor Keanu Reeves–the lights were on, but nobody was home, if you know what I mean.

It’s terrible, but I haven’t seen Branagh’s Hamlet or Hamlet: 2000, just Gibson’s version and a great live production, so I can’t weigh in on this debate. Both are going on my to-watch list, though.

So GalaxyRanger, is LLL worth renting? I’ve seen a live production of it and enjoyed it (oddly, it, too, incorporated a Roaring Twenties setting), and I really liked Alessandro Nivola in Mansfield Park, so maybe it would be…

Whoever hasn’t seen Ran, run, don’t walk, to your neighborhood library or video rental store! It’s not an easy movie, but it’s incredible. I haven’t seen Throne of Blood yet, but I can’t recommend the Kurosawa films that I have seen highly enough: Rashomon (brilliant, creepy, and based on one of my favorite short stories, “In A Grove”), Seven Samurai (forerunner of The Magnificent Seven), and The Hidden Fortress (I actually haven’t seen all of this one, but it’s pretty easy to recognize the two characters that George Lucas based R2D2 and C3PO from). Amazingly, I think Kurosawa manages to end Ran with an even higher death count than Shakespeare, and it’s definitely more gory.

ThotFulGuy, yeah, I remember King of Texas. It was made-for-TV, so it might be hard to find now, but I thought it was pretty good, too.

Has anybody else seen the version of Twelfth Night released in the mid-nineties? I first ran across it a few months ago, and I thought it was great. Ben Kingsley plays a very interesting Feste (and he’s not a bad singer, either), and Imelda Staunton actually makes Maria quite compelling. Okay, I’ll admit, I also have a bit of a crush on Toby Stephens (Orsino)…:wink:

#31

[quote=Kappa;19185As for Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, I enjoyed it, but poor Keanu Reeves–the lights were on, but nobody was home, if you know what I mean.

I know what you mean. I was waiting for him to say “dude” or “excellent” the whole time.

[quote]So GalaxyRanger, is LLL worth renting? I’ve seen a live production of it and enjoyed it (oddly, it, too, incorporated a Roaring Twenties setting), and I really liked Alessandro Nivola in Mansfield Park, so maybe it would be…

Yes, it’s worth watching it, but as I said in my post above, you have to know what to expect from it. A trailer can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182295/trailers-screenplay-E13697-310

It’s light-hearted and the dancing scenes don’t have much connection to the original play, but when you think about it, one wouldn’t understand the spirit of the music in the original play anyway, so it’s a legitimate to experiment to substitute them with modern material. It manages to keep the airy mood of the play while modernizing it a great deal. Certainly one of the ligher Shakespeare adaptations. The only downer is even though they kept the original ending, they added another ending on top of that which is pretty cheesy.

Has anybody else seen the version of Twelfth Night released in the mid-nineties? I first ran across it a few months ago, and I thought it was great. Ben Kingsley plays a very interesting Feste (and he’s not a bad singer, either), and Imelda Staunton actually makes Maria quite compelling. Okay, I’ll admit, I also have a bit of a crush on Toby Stephens (Orsino)…:wink:

I think I have to go back and correct myself in one of the posts above. Branagh’s As You Like It was set in medieval Japan, not his Twelfth Night. Yeah, Branagh’s Twelfth Night was extraordinary, the actresses were great and when Kingsley walks off into the sunset at the end - just wow.

#32

Here is a summery:
The year is 907 A.D., after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. China is divided into 10 warring states constantly in conflict with one another and among themselves. The emperor of one of these kingdoms has died, and his young wife, Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi), immediately dispatches a messenger to his son Prince Wu Luan (Daniel Wu), who is just 4 years her senior and her childhood sweetheart. The prince had been in recluse since his father’s marriage to Wan, in a mountain retreat where he had dedicated himself to the perusal of song, dance and poetry. In her message, Wan exhorts Wu Luan to return to the palace, adding that his uncle, Li (You Ge), had seized the throne in his absence. Quicker than Wu Luan could act, however, Li sends a team of assassins to exterminate his nephew, who could be a potential threat to his newly acquired power.

I would say that revenge and betrayal are big in it but I would say it is more relationship heavy than Hamlet. In all I would say it has a similar plot to Hamlet but not the introspection that Hamlet does. After all, it is really a martial arts film. Similar to House of Flying Daggers or Hero. I’d have to break it out again to be more detailed. Sorry, it’s been well over a year.

#33

Sounds interesting. Could be close to the Ur-Hamlet, the lost play upon which Hamlet is supposedly based and which is said to have been a crude revenge tragedy.

#34

And yet there were more than just a few years then (most of the 1980’s, it seems) where Kurosawa could hardly get a film made at all and was completely neglected in Japan. Go figure!

#35

Rightey, so, based on all the suggestions above, I’ve decided that the next Shakespeare movies I want to watch are King of Texas and The Banquet. Both are not available on Region 2 DVDs but I recently discovered that PC plays region 1 DVD as well.

I tried to get the from amazon.com, but they charge the hilarious sum of 13$ for international shipping. And yes, the current euro - dollar exchange rate is 1:1.5, so buying stuff online from US websites is not too expensive for me, but still - I’ve mailed stuff across the Atlantic and shipping doesn’t cost 13$ for a DVD. Anyway, I found a very reasonably priced copy on ebay.com, so I’m happy with King of Texas.

The Banquet is a different matter. I found DVDs all over the place and I could get them from ebay too - but they’re all in Mandarin and subtitled - so I was wondering: is there an English dub available at all or did y’all watch it with subtitles too?

Edit: Seeing that Ran is an entirely different matter, I can just netflix it over here, so it’s obviously available in more region codes than The Banquet - was Ran more successful or is it a more popular movie, since it seems to be more wide-spread?

#36

It won an oscar for best foreign language film and is considered one of Kurosawa’s crowning achievements. As far as I know there are three editions of it on DVD: the very first release with no bells and whistles (sadly, the one I own); a second “collectors edition” with some extras put out by the same company that released the original DVD; and a fancy Criterion Collection edition which I wish I could get but which, alas, I can’t really justify at the moment.

#37

I know this is off-topic, since you’re looking for traditional performances, but 2001’s “Scotland, PA” is another sounds-risky-but works adaptation, of MacBeth, set in backwoods Pennsylvania, circa the 1970s, around a fast-food restaurant, with a soundtrack of Bad Company classics. Cast features Christopher Walken.

And, of course, the MaKenzie Brothers’ “Strange Brew” movie loosely adapts Hamlet. Elsinore beer – beauty, eh?

#38

Sounds like you totally love this movie and what’s good for Armando can’t be bad for me.

I guess I said I was looking for movies that stick close to the orginal text, but I have to say, I enjoyed e.g. Ten Things I Hate About You very much - but I’m a teen movies guy. And 10TIHAY was definitely one of the better ones. I recently saw the movie version of “The Shape of Things” and it just plain sucked - the play was much much better.
Checked out the trailer of Scotland, PA, looks funny, I loved when the woman clocked the guy on the head with the frying pan.

#39

All of Kurosawa’s most popular works are on Criterion which is really the way to go if you have the $$$. All the DVDs’ that Netflix shipped me were Criterion. That is to say if there was a Criterion release for the movie they had it. We are talking about films made from 1950 - 1985 so all the remastering they do for them really makes a difference. Also, if you have time watch it again with the commentary by Stephen Prince for Ran and Michael Jeck for Throne of Blood. If you are interested in how it was filmed, Japanese theater, Japanese history and its relationship with Shakespeare it is excellent. You could even just have it on in the background, after all Ran is a marathon. One you start watching Kurosawa
you will have to see them all, Shakespeare based or no. I hope someone doesn’t start a thread for him or I’ll never get any sleep.

#40

Oh yeah, and you can always rip a netflixed DVD…