You, of course, know the book. I mean, who hasn't heard of their cursed love affair? And you probably know the movie version directed by Baz Luhrman. Leonardo DiCaprio cast as Romeo, and some girl as Juliet (honestly, Leonardo distracted me, I can't remember her name), this movie is a modernized version of the play, using the same dialouge but acted out in modern day.
What I noticed most was that you could almost mute out the words and just watch, and you'd understand what was going on. Baz Luhrman probably did this because the movie's target audience seemed to be teenagers, who would probably have trouble understanding just the dialouge without any cues from the setting or he dramatic way of acting.
To be honest, while the overdramatic scenery and acting did help, in some scenes it just seemed silly.
Take Act 1Scene 1, in which Sampson (the pink haired Capulet) bites his thumb at the Montagues, which is a sign of disrespect. Abraham (that Montague with the shiny silver grill) begins to scream. Sampson is obviously intimidated, but he acts like a small child being yelled at by a bully in a movie. They scream and shake and run around.
"DO YOU BITE YOUR THUMB AT ME!?"
"I-I do bit my thumb, sir."
"DO YOU BITE YOUR THUMB AT *ME*, SIR?"
I was fine with this, until actually reading the text. I got an entirely different feeling from reading it. It seemed as if Sampson was intimidated, but he acted with a great deal more composure.
Just a thought.
I really did like the scenery, I agree, and I did like the performances. I thought that the specific art direction was very good at some parts. But at the same time, I couldn't help but feel that the movie was way, way, way too overacted to a point where it was just plain weird, even if the intention was to create a weird envionrment for a classic text.. Almost like Baz Luhrmann was purposely over dramatizing because we're too dumb to realize what was going on without it. People have dubbed this film as the MTV take on a Shakespeare classic... and to me, MTV is a synonym for 'idiotic entertainment for dim witted people who don't even know what they're watching'. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteI didn't actually think Ms. Robbins was going to play this version of the movie, becuase a few days before we started I watched the begining on MTv. I agree the overacting was purposeful, and useful for us modern-day idiots, but it made it seem like a joke. And then the funny over-acted parts paled out the serious parts.
ReplyDeleteLike at the party. They go from Mercutio in full drag-queen form to the first time Romeo meets Juliet, and I was still chuckling at the flamboyant Mercutio, I hardly noticed when it cut to the serious meet-eachother in a fishtank scene.
The whole concept of the movie, I'd say was rather clever. But, the way some scenes were acted out... was just not that great. Even though, Mercutio was all frolicky (word?) and silly, he died. And that changed the whole theme of the story, but did it really? Like it was supposed to be more sad, well not to me... Some of the parts were "underacted", I want to say. Like at the end, when Romeo dies- it was a strong scene like in the play, but on screen- not so much...
ReplyDeleteAnd also, to think this was on MTV before all of this is kinda actually crazy. MTV's more out there, not so y'know... Romeo + Juliet. I guess that's a sign this wasn't the best ever. Actually now i'm interested in watching other versions by other directors.
When Romeo died I was distracted by Juliet waking up and looking high- and not stoping Romeo. It seemed really silly. I would loooove to see more versions of this play.
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