We had to watch this in English class, i had already seen the movie many times before and found it fairly enjoyable. I don't see it as the best Baz Luhrman film (that's a toss up between Australia and Moulin Rouge - I don't like Strictly Ballroom as much as those), it's okay.Bringing Shakespeare (words and all) into the modern day is hard and this movie certainly shows the strain. Quite simply it seemed like it was trying too hard to make people like it, if something is set in modern day many people wont want to listen to language from the late 1500s. But this is sort of like a charm for the film. I like to believe it plays out like a dream, the way it was shot, the surreal colour and modern setting coupled with Shakespearean language all seem so strange and imaginative that it can't be real.. A dream that many people want. Yes not everyone wants to die at the end but the whirl wind romance and dying for love is romance at it's finest. It looks and feels like a dream that is so distant from reality that it should lose all cohesive meaning. But the meaning is still there.... it's strange, i know.
The acting wasn't revolutionary. I don't like Leonardo Di Caprio in a lot of things(What's eating Gilbert Grape is about the only thing i like him in because Titanic was boring), but i thought he was really good to look at in this and although the Shakespearean language sounds foreign coming from him, he at least is able to show real emotion for Juliet- Which is all we need from Romeo anyway. Most of the actors (except for the older cast members) sound like Di Caprio when they deliver their lines.
Claire Danes plays Juliet. I haven't seen her in many things, but i think she did great in this. In fact as far as acting goes in this movie she was probably the best. Her delivery seems more natural than Di Caprio's which is certainly obvious in the balcony scene. It's as though she reacts in much the same way a modern girl would react, only in different words. If that makes sense. In any case she was good.
Pete Postlethwaite plays Father Laurence and i just thought i'd say that i like the scenes with him the most. But then, he was good in everything.
Romeo and Juliet is timeless and without realizing it, we see movies following the same/similar plot all the time, i think it's safe to say that Romeo and Juliet is the most remade title in history. Shakespeare was a good writer, he had to have been to be create such a lasting story. However i think i like Hamlet the most because everyone dies. I'm morbid like that. West Side Story will forever be my favourite reworking of Romeo and Juliet but this comes a close second.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Shakespeare is also the most over-analysed writer in history. But that's another story. Maybe i just think that because i hate analyzing things for English because my teacher is overly pretentious.
"If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking you and beat love down" Mercutio (Harold Perrineau), Romeo and Juliet.
Leo is dope are u kidding
ReplyDeleteThe wonderful thing about Shakespeare was and is that his works stand the test of time. What he wrote over a couple hundred years ago is still relevant today. Romeo and Juliet dealt with teens who are torn between fighting families and think they are old enough to make their own decisions which spells their undoing. I loved analyzing Shakespeare, when I was in high school, we had to translate it into modern English and explain the different ideas according to how we understood it.
ReplyDelete