ROMEO AND JULIET
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1996 Ben Hoffman
It was just 60 years ago that I saw my first ROMEO AND JULIET, and loved it even though (or perhaps because) the leads were played by Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer who were, respectively, age 39 and 36. But what did a kid know? They were two of my favorite actors and I adored the film. The music was by Tschaikowsky and that did not hurt one bit. I recall that when Romeo spent the first night with Juliet, the camera panned up over the balcony, into the sky and over the trees and when it came down to earth it was morning. How beautiful it was! How this teenager ate that up!
Somewhere around 1958 I saw the Russian filmed ballet version with Ulanova and with the great music of Serge Prokofiev and I went wild about the film and especially the music. Since then I have seen the ballet (Bolshoi) a dozen times and nothing can surpass the ballet version.
In 1968, there was Zeffirelli's wonderful production starring the 15-year -old Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting who was a mere 17, which was more in keeping with the original play by Shakespeare. And now we are approaching the millennia with Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of that great work.
Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare wrote:
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
in fair Verona (where we lay our scene)
From ancient grudge break new mutiny.
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives."
The current version opens with a TV broadcast by an anchorwoman (Edwina Moore) reporting a shoot-out between two rival gangs, the Montagues and the Capulets in Verona, Florida. The TV camera takes us to the scene where the gang members are firing revolvers at each other. Among them is Tybalt (John Leguizamo), a Capulet and Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) a Montague who is Romeo's best friend.
My first reaction to this scene was "This movie is going to bomb!" I felt a small revulsion at the desecration of a great writer. But shortly, thereafter, I was caught up in the film, with the nice touch that the characters spoke Shakespearean English. The appearance of Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio. whom I correctly chose to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor in WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE? and that of Juliet (Claire Dane, who won an Emmy nomination in MY SO-CALLED LIFE, and followed that with LITTLE WOMEN, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT and TO GILLIAN ON HER 37TH BIRTHDAY) moved the film into another dimension). Both DiCaprio and the very innocent-looking Dane gave the film a feeling of young love at first sight. There could not have been better casting.
A couple of quick complaints. Was it really necessary to make Mercutio into a cross-dresser? Was it really necessary to have Juliet blow her brains out with a revolver . . . or was that supposed to be in keeping with the modern crazy world of guns? I would have much preferred had she finished the deadly potion Romeo had just taken.
Anyone upset that I have committed "a spoiler" by revealing that both Romeo and Juliet die? You have to be kidding, right?
Other notables in the cast are Pete Postlethwaite (as Father Laurence) who absolutely knocked me out as the tragic father in that wonderful film, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER as well as his appearances in many other fine films . . . and Brian Dennehy as Ted Montague as the head of the Montague clan and Paul Servino as Fulgencio Capulet, the patriarch of the Capulet clan, Diane Venora as his wife Gloria Capulet. Paul Rudd is Paris, Juliet's suitor; and let us not forget Juliet's nursemaid, played by that fine British actress, Miriam Margolyes, who here has a Spanish accent.
All in all, an exciting, spectacular film . . . and certainly original.
Directed by Baz Luhrmann.
Rated 3.5 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to miss 2 Bytes = Average 1 Byte = Save your money
Ben Hoffman
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews