Pondering a (Film Of a) Problem Play
Fittingly, considering the Shakespeare meme that's been running amok lately...tonight I finally got around to watching the recent "Merchant of Venice" film with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. I missed it in the theater (don't think it ever even played near me) but I'd heard good things, and adored Pacino's "Looking for Richard" (amazing film--not only a production of most of Shakespeare's Richard III, but a brilliant look behind the scenes and exploration of why we still love Shakespeare and his work, all at the same time)...so I just went ahead and bought the "Merchant" DVD when it came out...
Several months ago.
And I finally got around to watching it tonight. Yeah. I'm waaaaay behind on my movies. :?P
(Been catching up lately, though...if you'll excuse another digression...saw "I, Robot" last night and really liked that as well...pretty tight story, if not Asimov's, some good dialogue...And Alan "Wash" Tudyk as the voice of a very interesting robot...what's not to love? Okay...now pray pardon, gentles, and back to the Bard!)
So.
Intriguing film. I was a little uncertain at first...it's a very modern interpretation of one of the most infamous of the problem plays, and they play it somewhat harsh and dark...if darkly gorgeous (we're talking Venice after all). Shylock is tragically sympathetic. Antonio and Bassanio, as Cristin would say, are very gay. Love is often cruel. But the more I settled into the film, the more I enjoyed it...the film's interpretation really plays up the human complexities, and of course the Bard's words always shine.
The cast is fabulous. Pacino of course makes a fabulous Shylock. Jeremy Irons brings an amazing dignity and bittersweet quality to his flawed, noble Antonio...a man who seems unlikely to ever be allowed the love or happiness he seeks in the society he lives in (especially if he's gay). Joseph Fiennes (who's already played the Bard himself in Shakespeare in Love) walks a deft, fine like with Bassanio...a callous, selfish playboy always on the verge of recognizing the harm he's doing others...and while you're never sure if he's going to be able to fully make that empathetic leap, you never quite give up hope, either. Several other actors I know from Britcoms have amusing small-to-midling roles (the older son from "My Family", who was also the young guy traveling to America to get chicks in 'Love Actually'; Alec Calendar from "May to December"; and the blond skinny guy from "The Office" who played a one-eyed luckless pirate in "Pirates of the Caribbean"). Oh...and Lynn Collins was a quite good and very lovely Portia. I always did like redheads... (*Thinks on Shakespearean-speaking ladies with red hair he knows...mind wanders off to dreamland...*)
There's also an excellent behind the scenes feature on the DVD, which made me love the film all the more. The director and the cast all make some excellent commentary on the themes of the play and the angles for their characters. Jeremy Irons tells us he wasn't playing Antonio gay after all, that he looked on it more as a matter of the fact that friendship between men was something different to the Elizabethans, as were relationships between men and women...so apparently it's meant more as a Frodo/Samwise kind of deal. I can see it both ways, but I find the discussion and the possibilities fascinating. The best Shakespeare, the best plays and stories generally, don't simply say "this is this", they leave us with layers to work through and reinterpret in our own minds. At first I thought the movie was merely one very good, very particular interpretation...but further thought and the interviews on the disc have really belied that.
I also can't help but ponder the relevance to our modern world when several of the cast speak of "Merchant of Venice" as more than anything else a commentary on fundamentalism, how those who refuse to compromise (Shylock being the most obvious example) will ultimately and necessarily bring about their own doom. Those who are willing to consider the viewpoints of others, to learn, adjust, and forgive...they've at least got a fighting chance, like the lovers in this play--though "happily ever after" is still anything but assured.
I give it two quills way up! Or something.
Several months ago.
And I finally got around to watching it tonight. Yeah. I'm waaaaay behind on my movies. :?P
(Been catching up lately, though...if you'll excuse another digression...saw "I, Robot" last night and really liked that as well...pretty tight story, if not Asimov's, some good dialogue...And Alan "Wash" Tudyk as the voice of a very interesting robot...what's not to love? Okay...now pray pardon, gentles, and back to the Bard!)
So.
Intriguing film. I was a little uncertain at first...it's a very modern interpretation of one of the most infamous of the problem plays, and they play it somewhat harsh and dark...if darkly gorgeous (we're talking Venice after all). Shylock is tragically sympathetic. Antonio and Bassanio, as Cristin would say, are very gay. Love is often cruel. But the more I settled into the film, the more I enjoyed it...the film's interpretation really plays up the human complexities, and of course the Bard's words always shine.
The cast is fabulous. Pacino of course makes a fabulous Shylock. Jeremy Irons brings an amazing dignity and bittersweet quality to his flawed, noble Antonio...a man who seems unlikely to ever be allowed the love or happiness he seeks in the society he lives in (especially if he's gay). Joseph Fiennes (who's already played the Bard himself in Shakespeare in Love) walks a deft, fine like with Bassanio...a callous, selfish playboy always on the verge of recognizing the harm he's doing others...and while you're never sure if he's going to be able to fully make that empathetic leap, you never quite give up hope, either. Several other actors I know from Britcoms have amusing small-to-midling roles (the older son from "My Family", who was also the young guy traveling to America to get chicks in 'Love Actually'; Alec Calendar from "May to December"; and the blond skinny guy from "The Office" who played a one-eyed luckless pirate in "Pirates of the Caribbean"). Oh...and Lynn Collins was a quite good and very lovely Portia. I always did like redheads... (*Thinks on Shakespearean-speaking ladies with red hair he knows...mind wanders off to dreamland...*)
There's also an excellent behind the scenes feature on the DVD, which made me love the film all the more. The director and the cast all make some excellent commentary on the themes of the play and the angles for their characters. Jeremy Irons tells us he wasn't playing Antonio gay after all, that he looked on it more as a matter of the fact that friendship between men was something different to the Elizabethans, as were relationships between men and women...so apparently it's meant more as a Frodo/Samwise kind of deal. I can see it both ways, but I find the discussion and the possibilities fascinating. The best Shakespeare, the best plays and stories generally, don't simply say "this is this", they leave us with layers to work through and reinterpret in our own minds. At first I thought the movie was merely one very good, very particular interpretation...but further thought and the interviews on the disc have really belied that.
I also can't help but ponder the relevance to our modern world when several of the cast speak of "Merchant of Venice" as more than anything else a commentary on fundamentalism, how those who refuse to compromise (Shylock being the most obvious example) will ultimately and necessarily bring about their own doom. Those who are willing to consider the viewpoints of others, to learn, adjust, and forgive...they've at least got a fighting chance, like the lovers in this play--though "happily ever after" is still anything but assured.
I give it two quills way up! Or something.