By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Justin Kurzel
Country: france, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 113
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2884018/
Jason says: “Though I can’t recite it from memory or anything, ‘Macbeth’ is probably the bit of Shakespeare that has lodged itself in my head the most firmly ever since high school, and that’s kind of an issue when watching director Justin Kurzel’s new film version. The rhythms of it seem wrong, from the new prologue to the finale, and while I suspect that this might go down better going into the film with a little more idea of what to expect, that may defeat the point, if the idea is that a film about treachery and betrayal should not feel comfortable and familiar. The trouble is that the filmmakers often seem limited in the ways that they can shake things up, leaving the result kind of a mess.
“There aren’t necessarily a lot of rules in adapting Shakespeare, but ‘no adding lines’ is something most seem to agree on, and there’s logic to it – getting those fairly verbose plays down to two hours or so means cutting lines, and it’s a bit of hubris to think that effectively exchanging his words for one’s own will be an upgrade. But Kurzel and the screenwriters have things they want to add, which means that the new scenes are silent, in the case of the funeral for Macbeth’s stillborn child that opens the film, or full of wordless yelling like the extended combat scenes a bit later. Understand, a lot of this stuff is gorgeous, with great dramatic visuals, but it often creates the feeling of an art-house project inspired by ‘Macbeth’ that includes the most famous lines and speeches as much out of obligation as anything else.
“As a result, Michael Fassbender’s best moment in the title role comes not from delivering the dialogue, but when he gives the audience a look that suggests both madness and the fierceness as a warrior that originally gained him the king’s notice, and maybe just a bit of the greed that being told he has a destiny has inspired in him. It’s something that would have been nice to see more often on Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth, really, although it’s amazing that her French accent makes her a bit easier to comprehend at times than the burrs coming out of everyone else. There are still some nifty performances, though, notably Paddy Considine as Banquo and David Thewlis as Malcolm, although Sean Harris’s Macduff never seizes the screen the way he should.
“In some ways, there’s little worse than a disappointing film; given the cast and favorite material, I was expecting greatness from this one but instead got something that was too frequently boring. Fortunately, it’s not like this being less than it could will stop people from staffing the ‘Scottish Play‘ again, and the next one could very well make better on the promises of its adaptation. 3 cats
“Seen 15 December 2015 at Landmark Kendall Square #7 (first-run, DCP)”