A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
Starring Christian Bale, Calista Flockhart, Dominic West, Anna Friel, Rupert Everett, David Strathairn, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, and Michelle Pfeiffer
Directed by Michael Hoffman
I liked this movie more before I watched a recent stage production of Shakespeare's lighthearted comedy. However, after watching the Bard's words performed live onstage, the movie's faults began to surface and one begins to realize that watching this many "celebrities" perform Shakespeare makes you focus more on the stars (and their lackluster acting) than the actual story.
I'm not going to delve into a summary (that's what sparknotes.com is for when it comes to Shakespeare's works), but I'll simply say that A Midsummer Night's Dream tells the tale of the meeting of the human world and fairy world. Wacky mayhem (at least wacky in terms of Shakespeare) ensues. One portion of the tale deals with young lovers while another looks at a lower class group of actors trying to put on a play for the upper class. The young lovers side (for the most part) works, but the "play within a play" aspect kind of fails.
Christian Bale and Dominic West are both capable of performing Shakespeare's words as the two men who are vying for Hermia's affections. Anna Friel as Hermia is far and away the best actor in the film and anytime she was onscreen, it made me want to watch her now-cancelled tv show Pushing Daisies.
While those three young actors fare well, the "bigger" stars at the time of the film's release -- Calista Flockhart, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kevin Kline -- aren't as successful at relaying Shakespeare's words. Kline, in particular, just didn't work for me. Watching this and then watching the play made me dislike Kline's take on the comedic character of Nick Bottom even more. Kline goes over-the-top and while that works onstage, it doesn't onscreen.
The film looks pretty and rich, and, in the end, it's certainly not a bad Shakespeare adaptation. Still, the back-to-back viewing of A Midsummer Night's Dream on film and then stage made me realize that I think the stage may be the best place to view the Bard's work.
The RyMickey Rating: C
No comments:
Post a Comment