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Much Ado About NothingRating:
Release Date: 07 January, 2003 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $9.99 You SAVE: $4.99! Cast: Complete Cast (14 total) |
Much Ado About Nothing Reviews
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Here's the deal. The best way to appreciate Shakespeare is on a DVD with subtitles. But it has to be performed by some folks with the proper appreciation of the Bard. Mayhap that comes naturally to actors, or at least it tries to, since he was one of them. I dunno.
I know this. You can show this DVD to Chinese students who'd rather be thinking about computer games or Hello Kitty or puberty, where English is a second (really a third or mayhap fourth) language, hundreds of years and thousands of miles away from Shakespeare's intended audience, and they'll laugh so hard tears come out of their eyes. If you're me, you can show it 20 or so times and the tears of laughter still come out of YOUR eyes. Name ONE other author who can do that.
Parallel structure, which I've mentioned before. The young couple is in love at first sight, the older couple may be a bit too proud to hook up without some manipulation but in their defense they actually speak instead of doing the goo-goo-eyed shuffle. Shakespeare really sends up our attitudes in this one, and in fact drifts into tragic territory that pisses off many students. As he would have wanted. I love its cross-genre nature. It's how some of us write e-books. Rules are for fools.
Love at first sight. Seriously. What up with dat? Actually being confident enough to communicate with the one you love. Why's that so freaking shocking? And why is a damn so-called COMEDY making me ask these questions? Because I'm talking about Shakespeare, that's why. And probably screwing up this review in the process.
Early on, verbal humor aplenty. You won't get it all. You don't care. You get the gist, the mood, and by my troth you can watch it again and again.
Each scene builds upon what preceded it. Possibly, much Shakespeare does that. But I've been reviewing scripts ere now. This is my first review of an actual performance, and it's gonna be different because of that.
It's quite easy for me to summarize plot and character, since I've seen it about 20 times, but I don't wanna. Watch the dang thing and you'll be able to do that yourself. Or read it at Gutenberg, if you're feeling so inclined. Or even in the Cliff's Notes I've mentioned elsewhere if you're a geeberhead. Nobody cares.
After all these viewings, what works for me is the language. Stuff I missed the first 19 viewings. Stuff that convinces me that, if we were to manage the impossibility of producing another Shakespeare, we'd pump him full of Ritalin and try to turn him into a burger flipper. And then he'd defy our plans and write any damn way. Ha!
I think the bottom line is that I need some more Shakespearean DVDs. I've also greatly enjoyed THE MERCHANT OF VENICE but probably reviewed it badly, and I have some others that mayhap weren't quite so faithful to the Bard. We'll see, won't we? I'll keep writing these reviews. Yes I will.
Light, sparkling, set in Italy, but feels a bit staged
There is no way around it, no matter how it is staged Shakespeare will inevitably feel like a stage play. That it is acted by two of Britains foremost stage actors of the time, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson (who at this stage were still married) adds to the feeling. There is some over the top voice projection, but generally this feels light, fun and a pretty glorious rendition of one of Shakespeares frothiest plays.
Much ado about nothing really is just what it says. The premise is that the duke returns from the wars with a half-brother whom dislikes him but has reconciled with him simply to create problems. Which he manages to do, embroiling the hapless Hero (the heroine of the story!) and her love. It is all based on falsehood and nothing.
Branagh and Thompson play the battling ex-lovers who are reconciled during the course of the movie, but this doesn't stay their battling wits and shrewdness. This is one point where their clear diction and stage presence makes a huge difference as each word and inference can be celarly understood.
There are wonderful set scenes - the arrival of the duke and his men, and the finish with the dancing through the grounds was gorgeous. The real winner of the movie has to be the house and grounds it is set in - how wonderful! Who wouldn't want to live in Italy after seeing this movie - and a nice way to learn some of Shakespeare good fun.
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