Film Movement Blu-ray Review: Edward II (1991)

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There's the phrase “breathes new life into old material” and then there's the feat achieved by production designer turned filmmaker Derek Jarman with his adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's nearly four hundred year old play via the 1991 New Queer Cinema masterpiece, Edward II.

Inspired by the reign of the openly gay fourteenth century monarch, in Jarman's hands, Marlowe's 1593 work, originally dubbed The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer, becomes all the more urgent given the backdrop of the AIDS crisis and England's increasingly homophobic policies resulting in a period of unrest and protest.

Having recently revealed his status as HIV positive, the politically active filmmaking provocateur who once famously said “I didn't have to adapt a cause, I became one,” broke new ground in terms of adaptation from page to stage to screen.

A towering achievement in visual storytelling, according to Jarman's muse and Edward II lead actress Tilda Swinton, the director relished the opportunity the film gave him “to jump right into the echelons of contemporary power in England with whom he felt so at odds.”

Taking advantage of its low budget to be even more experimental, Edward II was filmed without windows, doors, or natural light sources, instead using four block walls as an interchangeable set.

Returning to the kind of creative stage and production design for which he first made his name, Jarman and his crew employ Third Man like shadowy spotlights in one scene before using them altogether differently in an epically romantic sequence where actor Steven Waddington's titular character dances with his lover to Cole Porter's “Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye” sung by Annie Lennox just one block over.

Serving up a constantly evolving, gleefully anachronistic, visceral cocktail which mixes together nude rugby players, Tilda Swinton's Queen Isabella going full vampire in front of her perpetually in-drag son, as well as a full-blown gay rights protest with real life activists, as wild as Edward II gets, Jarman keeps it from spiraling into chaos.

No stranger to unconventional adaptations and biopics, while Edward II is incredibly experimental, Jarman does more than simply use Marlowe's source material as a jumping off point. Impressively, while it's tempting to just simply turn off your brain and see where the chameleon like picture goes next, we're nonetheless riveted to the point that – even when it threatens to lose us – thanks in no small part as well to its first rate cast, we remain as focused on the narrative storyline as we are on the visual one.

Making its Blu-ray debut twenty-seven years after it bowed into film festivals and arthouse theaters courtesy of Film Movement Classics, Edward II has been given the royal treatment in this collectible worthy release.

Filling each of my speakers beautifully to the point that I felt like I could hear the sound pinging off all four of those block walls, following a recent digital restoration, Edward II looks as lush as it sounds.

With a lovingly penned prologue by Tilda Swinton as well as a thought provoking critical essay by Bruce LaBruce, the Blu-ray also boasts a worthwhile, roughly twenty-three minute documentary featurette that delivers new interviews from those working behind and in front of the scenes, including the producers at Working Title, which has come a long way since 1991, continuing to bring us some of the best films from the UK.

Perfectly synced to release during Pride Month, though long revered as a work of New Queer excellence, Edward II has been long absent from Blu-ray and DVD shelves. A fascinating find for this film studies major and straight ally, Film Movement gave classics lovers more to cheer for by choosing the exact same day to also bring us the filmed performance of Maxine Peake as the first female Hamlet in nearly forty years to DVD.

And while it's bittersweet because he's not around to see this release, the same way Christopher Marlowe did for Edward II in his play, and Derek Jarman did for them both in this film, through Edward II, here in 2018, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, and Derek Jarman continue to live on.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

DVD Review: Hamlet (2015)

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A dazed and unhinged Hamlet, Maxine Peake is nevertheless able to unleash paragraphs of dialogue with ferocious, lightning quick speed. From growls to laughter, she uses the various notes of her voice almost musically.

And as the first actress to tackle the role of Shakespeare's vengeful Danish prince since Frances La Tour took it on in 1979, Peake simply dazzles in Manchester's 2015 Royal Exchange Theatre production directed for the stage by Sarah Frankcom, which has at last made its way to DVD courtesy of Film Movement's sister label Omnibus Entertainment.

Yet considering the fact that they didn't alter the text or characterizations much to suit the casting, Hamlet's daring gender blind casting might throw you at first. However, once you settle into Frankcom's bold, minimalist, and (fittingly for its Danish setting) near Dogme '95 like staging which wouldn't have been out of place in one of Lars von Trier's late '90s era movies, it becomes not only thrilling to see women deliver some of Shakespeare's most quotable lines but also makes you reevaluate some of the work's core characters and relationships.

As the anchor of the play, Peake's performance is sure to make Shakespeare scholars recall Sarah Bernhardt's argument that Hamlet should only be played by women. Yet the decision to cast a woman in the role of Polonius makes the now mother/father and daughter tragedy of Ophelia all the more more upsetting.

A worthwhile endeavor for fellow theater buffs that translates impressively well to DVD with Margaret Williams directing it for the screen, Hamlet features a strong supporting cast, inventive staging, and fortunately only a couple of minor hiccups few and far between that don't quite live up to potential we've seen displayed in other Bard variations.

Making us feel like we're a part of the action, Hamlet sets itself apart early on during the opening scene where palace guards in neon vests hunt for any sign of Hamlet's father's ghost. Reminding us of the same feeling later on in the production when multiple characters simply stand around and watch Hamlet and Ophelia go mad without doing a thing, in the hands of Frankcom, bearing witness becomes a recurring, emphasized theme, thus giving the 1603 play greater urgency in today's violent world.

Ensuring that everything from Peake's David Bowie meets Billy Idol clothing and hairstyle to the wailing, dissonant jazz that plays between scenes during set-ups serves to punctuate the material even more, in this angry punk rock production of Hamlet, Frankcom and company take Polonius' advice of “to thine own self be true” to heart.


Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

DVD Review: Playing Shakespeare (1982)

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Okay, all "to be or not to be" aside-- can you imagine how intimidating it would've been to have taken an acting class alongside individuals such as Ben Kingsley (I mean Gandhi himself!), Ian McKellen and Judi Dench?

So with this in mind, thank goodness that Playing Shakespeare-- the 1982 legendary in-depth, nine episode master class led by John Barton on behalf of the Royal Shakespeare Company has now been made available for Bard buffs to enjoy in the privacy of their own home.

Recently it was served up as a four disc, slim-packaged exquisite collection from Acorn Media and Athena that also comes complete with a twenty page viewer's guide which offers more avenues for learning, history, points to ponder and highlights of the episodes as a sort of CliffsNotes version to the originally lauded companion text released in tandem with the London Weekend Television production. Furthermore, it's a wonderful way to appreciate the renowned and still so relevant production that was dubbed "required watching" for actors by The New York Times.

Still, of interest for more than just Shakespearean inclined actors-- whether you have a thing for iambic pentameter or are just simply interested in the tremendous creative output of Shakespeare's versatile plays (both tragic and comic alike)-- it's intellectual nourishment of the highest order. And likewise it makes an ideal companion work to more modern interpretations from my favorite Shakespeare professor, Mr. Kenneth Branagh to Al Pacino's fun documentary Looking for Richard.

Admittedly, on the surface it's safe to say it's even more pretentious than an entire season of the knowledgeable, brainy, but nonetheless amusingly SNL mocked stylings of James Lipton on our very own Actor's Studio (based on the Stanislavski system, a.k.a. "method acting" in its New York City setting). And it's additionally hindered by the fact that some of Barton's episodes and discussions feel a bit repetitive. Nonetheless it's a great deconstruction of the various choices one makes when taking on a role in a Shakespeare production and a thorough analysis of the texts at the same time.

Having seen a majority of the series in a random order sporadically during the last fifteen years via not just television (I'm guessing PBS, Bravo or BBC America perhaps) but academia-- in everything from high school acting classes to collegiate literary studies on Shakespeare and master's level humanities coursework-- it was thrilling to finally take it all in the correct order when I could simply view it as a work instead of painstakingly taking notes for use in a required paper or for a scene study.

Breaking down the works with Barton's ongoing thesis that Shakespeare planted clues (or cues) throughout the text that are meant to help the actor and offer a guide for the the Bard's true intention on how a work should be played-- throughout the series Barton and the cast of twenty-one acclaimed and award winning actors play intellectual detectives.

Additionally, they weigh some of the inconsistencies in his use of short lines followed by long speeches, controversies surrounding the characters (for example Shylock in Merchant of Venice) and try to avoid overplaying the scenes as well as using iambic pentameter in too mannered of a style. By discussing the challenges of tackling the centuries old works as modern method trained and/or naturalistic actors, it makes one realize just how daunting it would be to take on the texts we know so well that-- as Barton acknowledges in the opening of the set-- over one thousand books and articles are written about the playwright and poet every single year.

Although it's far easier to say whether or not something is good or bad (acting-wise), it's a different obstacle altogether to dissect why we make those judgments as this highly talented group dissects their reasoning regarding how to choose the approach to deliver a particular line (or even simply one word) from an infinite number of options. And while Barton is the one running the show, it's especially great to see the way that the actors (or more specifically Ian McKellen routinely ask him to define or clarify words and phrases) in order to test their own theories and opinions as they go back and forth.

Despite Barton's earnest wish that he wouldn't do too much directing during the series nor have the members of the Royal Shakespeare Company do more talking than acting, both of these well-intentioned promises are broken early on as the one weakness the collection has is the fact that it comes off as "much ado about nothing," or quips aside, far too much conversation about what they think and not enough actual scene work that allows them to transfer these thoughts into action. However, when the characters-- even in modern dress-- deliver a line like the wondrous McKellan in a multitude of ways to illustrate how something can endlessly be interpreted, that's when the series shows us the glory of the best Shakespeare company in the world.

While all of the cast-mates have their moments, for me, the major "must see" segment was witnessing two extremely different takes on Shylock by David Suchet and Patrick Stewart as despite the fact that Barton had directed both men in their interpretations, neither actor had seen the other one perform it.

First discussing the alleged anti-semitism of the play which becomes a matter of personal significance for the Jewish Suchet who recalls getting horrific letters from Americans questioning his decision to act in such a work-- he and Stewart agree that you can't judge the play in terms of the twentieth century holocaust and it's interesting to see the way the two men address the Jewish religion in their respective characterizations.

While to Stewart, Shylock is "an alien" and "an outsider" who happens to be Jewish, to Suchet, Shylock is an outsider "because he is Jewish" and his passion comes through at once in their scenes together as they trade off. And although Stewart is a talented actor, to me it's apparent right off the bat that his approach to making the character so overly broad (to the point that at one moment he slips strangely into what sounds like a Scottish accent) is a grievous error for the work. Essentially his take makes Shylock a spectacle whereas Suchet moves us to such an extent-- although he works hard against playing scenes like "hath not a Jew eyes" for sheer sympathy-- that I realized I would never look at the man most famous for his portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot the same way ever again.

Simply put, I wanted to start a Suchet fan club and wondered why on Earth he hadn't broken free to the same level of stardom as McKellan and Kingsley (both of whom look so amazingly young you'll do a double take in episode one).

A wonderfully valuable treasure for fans of Shakespeare and filled with great debate on his most famous texts, discussion regarding the significance of the word "time" (which should be said with two syllables) in the work of the Bard, it's safe to say this collection will be a must-own for those who've ever done more than just passively read along with his work in elementary school.

Shakespeare:
In Print



Shakespeare:
On Film

Bigger than the Sky

Director: Al Corley

According to Bigger than the Sky's wildly charming and popular star of Portland Community Theatre, Michael (John Corbett), rule number one for his profession is to “never tell anybody in the theatre anything you don’t want everybody else to know.”

Having been a part of the theatre world both as a student actor and later as an employee, it’s a lesson that kept repeating itself again and again as it seemed like everyone from the costume designers to the ticket sellers knew precisely what was happening in everyone’s private life, thanks largely in part to the countless hours actors spend in the theatre where gossip is tangible and relationships begin casually and end messily in love triangles and even infidelity.

The rule of never telling anyone in theatre anything was discovered by Peter Rooker (Marcus Thomas) much too late after the mild-mannered man whose girlfriend has left him and taken 95% of the furniture in their home with her, finds himself intrigued by the local theatre which is holding auditions for a production of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Feeling stuck in his dead-end job with a condescending bully of a boss, Peter embarks on a depressing visit to the self-help section of his local bookstore where he's so drawn to the classic play that he impulsively goes to the open audition. After he begins feeling completely overshadowed by his scene with Michael, Peter is questioned about his life and reasons for auditioning off the bat by the unusual and inquisitive director Edwina (Clare Walters).

Later, shockingly cast as Cyrano thanks to his honesty, Peter finds himself overwhelmed by the theatrical process as he’s taken under the wing of Michael and also Michael’s beautiful on-again/off-again girlfriend Grace (Amy Smart) who, until finding herself the target of Peter’s affections, hadn’t considered taking part in her pact with Michael to have an open relationship.

Quickly and admittedly predictably, the film which was written by Three to Tango screenwriter Rodney Patrick Vaccaro begins to mirror Cyrano de Bergerac with Peter as the unlikely hero who falls for Roxanne (Smart’s Grace) from afar while knowing full well that Christian (Corbett’s Michael) is a far more better suited rival for her heart. With a whimsical and overly theatrical structure that at times makes it seem a bit like a fairy tale, Vaccaro’s script which he inexplicably felt was a straight comedy according to most critical reviews, is at its best when it’s being played as an homage to theatre by providing wonderful supporting roles for Sean Astin as the cocky actor Ken Zorbell, Astin’s mother Patty Duke in two quirky roles, and a lovely turn by Allan Corduner as Kippy, the unofficial godfather of the Portland Community Theatre.

The film gains much needed spirit and warmth from the charismatic turns by one of my favorite and most reliable scene stealers John Corbett and by Amy Smart who is becoming a promising actress to watch. However, despite a genuinely touching ending that reminds viewers just why we love theatre, one of the biggest problems of the film lies in the main character, which should be the opposite goal of any work purported to be a version of Cyrano. Although Peter is supposed to be a bland character, based on Marcus Thomas’ largely ineffective and vapid portrayal one can’t help but question if the fault came from the writing, direction or miscast actor, and this does greatly affect one's reaction to the film.

For two better modern updates of Cyrano, there’s no beating Steve Martin’s script and performance in Roxanne or the inventive reverse gender approach from writer Audrey Wells in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Perhaps in a subtle attempt by the studio to make up for the dull main character, intriguingly yet sadly, the manipulative DVD box for the film focuses on the star quality of Corbett and Smart and provides renters with a summary that mistakenly leads one to believe that Corbett’s Michael is the lead, with virtually no reference to Thomas’ Peter Rooker.