LOOKING FOR RICHARD
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Fox Searchlight)
Directed by Al Pacino
Written by Al Pacino and Frederick Kimball, based on the play by
William Shakespeare
Cast Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder,
Aidan Quinn, Penelope Allen, Harris Yulin, Frederick
Kimball, Vanessa Redgrave, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh,
John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, James Earl Jones
MPAA Rating "PG-13"
Running Time 112 minutes
Reviewed at The Colony, Raleigh, NC (10NOV96)
==
Al Pacino's labor-of-love documentary about William Shakespeare's "Richard III" is delightful for, oh, about an hour. Maybe less. Pacino, desperate to communicate his love for the Bard, takes his camera anywhere and everywhere, from the halls of academia right down to the man on the street. (In one memorable clip, a homeless man expresses regret for the loss of feelings behind contemporary language.) Pacino stages readings and rehearsals and, even, the occasional educational aside. (He provides an answer to "what is iambic pentameter?") For a while, the whole thing is fascinating, funny, and even frank, as when the many interviewed actors admit the brutal truths about speaking, hearing, and understanding Bill S. Unfortunately, when Al gets down to the business of actually *staging* some scenes, LOOKING FOR RICHARD begins to look lost. Almost all of the serious stuff is filmed in that same loose and leisurely style, which is great for capturing comments, but not so hot when trying to do drama. Of the costumed performers, only two of the actors-- Estelle Parsons and Penelope Allen-- produce any real fire. The rest are a bit of a bore, including Al.
Grade: C+
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth legeros@pagesz.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w) I'm also on the Web! http://www.pagesz.net/~legeros/
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