The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)'s comments

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Longomontanus

The sets are incredible!

2 years 2 months ago

I believe I'm made my ambivalence towards Macbeth clear in the past, and that doesn't change even if Joel Coen is directing The Tragedy of Macbeth, but there is a lot to like in this spare and very theatrical adaptation of one of the Bard's most enduring works. There's certainly some striking direction and cinematography, especially when it comes to the Witches, but I'm more likely to remember Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as Lord and Lady M. There's the sense here - one that I don't normally get from the play - that her madness comes on the heels of having unleashed something she wasn't prepared for. Lady M of course pushes for that first murder, but it opens a can of dread worms as her husband finds it easier and easier to kill, especially considering the immortality the prophecy seems to confer on him. Washington's is a quiet Macbeth, not so much reflective as fated and therefore inhabited by a kind of calm, even once his own death is at hand. If Macbeth is psychotic, then it's the kind of psychosis that deadens natural empathy and eventually turns into a god complex. My one real complaint is that the adaptation relies a bit too much on knowing the play beforehand, and perhaps knowing it well, as there's an awful lot of characters that show up for a scene and you're made to wonder "who is this?". Ross' ambiguous loyalties under fall under this heading, though they're more interesting. If the proper stresses had been applied, I don't think we would have felt as lost in those moments.

1 year 10 months ago