Review of Love Jones (1997) by Filipeneto — 22 Jan 2020

It's a good movie, but it won a lot of Oscars that it didn't deserve.

Taking Shakespeare and transporting it to the cinema is always an audacious gesture, I have said it in other reviews and I repeat it. Here, however, what was transposed to the canvas was the author himself. At the end of the 17th century, we followed Shakespeare's struggle to survive in the artistic and literary world. Uninspired and in need of money, he tries to write a romantic play without success. Everything changes with Lady Viola, a young aristocrat in love with the theater who does not accept that women cannot step on the stage freely, deciding to enter the new production of Shakespeare disguised as a man.

Of course, the script is entirely fictional and none of this has happened to the real bard. Despite the fact that the film is set at the right time and has some historical rigor in relation to the sets and costumes, the historical rigor ends there. The characters behave like us, in the middle of the 21st century, and reveal our mentality, not that of people four hundred years ago. In fact, the film skillfully mixes the two, so skillful that it can be dangerous and give the audience the idea that all of this was true or based on real facts from William Shakespeare's life. The film combines a good romance, the absurdity of the story told and a kind of silly humor that works well and makes the film light and pleasant. If you think about it too much, everything will fall apart, so it is better not to do it and let yourself go.

Joseph Fiennes is good for the material he was given and what he was asked for. He knows how to be romantic when he has to be and funny when he has to. Gwyneth Paltrow is beautiful and makes a good pair with him, they get good chemistry. Ben Affleck is OK, Geoffrey Rush is funny. On the negative side, Judi Dench only appears because it is necessary and will play the queen.

Now let's face it ... the film was highly awarded at the Oscars, with seven statuettes (Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Soundtrack, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Secondary Actress, Best Actress). But did the film deserve them? I honestly don't think so. The film is good, but not good enough to earn the highest award in the industry, especially when competing with much more serious and heavy films like "Elizabeth" or "Saving Private Ryan". Likewise, Paltrow doesn't look as good in this film as Cate Blanchet in "Elizabeth". Judy Dench almost won a career Oscar here because she doesn't even appear for ten minutes in the film. Personally, I think the film deserved only the awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Soundtrack and Best Costume Design. But since I wasn't the one who awarded the prizes that day ...