Review of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1991) by Jonathan S — 31 Mar 2009

What a strange idea for a film. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being two of the least influential characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, are given their own film to describe what they could have been up to between the events that run through the famous play. While Hamlet is a tragedy, this is a comedy, while Hamlet is written in Shakespearian, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is in... well English.

I was interested to see the different stories interweave, which happened a lot, but the entire film felt terribly broken. Our two protagonists bumble about completely randomly, then suddenly switch to classic Shakespearian. The change between writing couldn't have been more obvious. (especially when the two of them seem to magically move from place, as if the film was playing out as a dream scenario... which it ultimately isn't) Gary Oldman is the highlight of this film, being so completely harmless as well as brainless, yet capable of stumbling over some of greatest discoveries in Physics. Confused? Good.