By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Year: 2015
| Cymbeline (USA; 98 min.) directed by: Michael Almereyda starring: Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, Penn Badgley, Dakota Johnson |
 |
| Kyle says: “This is a contemporary film adaptation of a play by William Shakespeare. Such versions are plentiful and often quite effective, such as Gil Junger’s 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999), Ralph Fiennes’ CORIOLANUS, and Julie Taymor’s TITUS (1999), even in loose adaptations or evocations, such as Peter Greenaway’s PROSPERO’S BOOKS (1991) and Gus Van Sant’s MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991), or Matías Piñeiro’s VIOLA and THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE (2014). I have no objection whatever to Cymbeline and his cronies decked out in black leather and packing heat as members of the Briton Motorcycle Club, or Shakespearean dialogue being exchanged over cellphones. But I cannot help wincing over truly terrible acting by Ed Harris and Anton Yelchin, among others, sounding alarmed speaking so strangely, as in Harris’ order “Away hence from my sight”, and a purposeless camera wandering about various eccentrically chosen locations, with director Michael Almereyda’s attention seeming to be elsewhere. CYMBELINE needs all the help it can get, not belonging to the august ranks of Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It receives virtually no assistance here, beyond acknowledgement that Dakota Johnson and Penn Badgley are physically attractive together. “Prior to the main title credits, there is an exhortation to ‘KEEP YOUR “Thursday, October 1, 2015, on Netflix, New York” |
Cymbeline